Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Boles Excerpts

Thursday 11th September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander (Lewisham East) (Lab)]

1. What changes there were in the number of apprenticeship starts for under-19s in the academic year 2012-13 compared with the previous academic year.

[The Minister for Skills and Equalities (Nick Boles)]

Over the past two years, we have removed 54,000 apprenticeships for under-19-year-olds that had a planned duration of less than 12 months, so the overall number of apprenticeship starts for that age group has fallen by 15,000. The number of apprenticeships for under-19-year-olds including a real job and lasting for more than 12 months increased by 25,000.

[Heidi Alexander]

On a recent visit to Bromley college, I was told by a construction skills tutor that in the eight years he had worked there not once had he taught a bricklaying apprentice. When I asked him why, I was told that the qualification associated with such an apprenticeship is very rigid, making it neither attractive nor appropriate for employers. If we want to reduce the reliance of the UK’s construction sector on migrant labour, should we not be doing more to make skills and experience available to our young men and women, so that they can go on to get jobs in the construction industry?

[Nick Boles]

I actually agree with the hon. Lady about many of the old standards for apprenticeships, which is why we have introduced the trailblazer programme so that groups of employers are putting together relevant and demanding but accessible standards for young people. I visited a fantastic new further education college the other week—Prospects college of advanced technology in Basildon—where I met a few apprentices who are doing a bricklaying apprenticeship and find it very worth while. The hon. Lady is right, however, that many of the old apprenticeship standards were inadequate and unattractive to young people and employers.

[Sir Peter Luff (Mid Worcestershire) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend think that the public sector itself is setting a good enough example when it comes to offering apprenticeships?

[Nick Boles]

Some parts of the public sector set a fantastic example—the Ministry of Defence is a very good example and the NHS is another—but not all Government Departments and, I suspect, not all of us as Members of Parliament, are doing everything we could. I urge every part of the public sector to do everything it can to create apprenticeships so that more young people can get on the ladder to a successful career.

[Mr Liam Byrne (Birmingham, Hodge Hill) (Lab)]

It is very bad news that the number of apprentices under the age of 19 is falling and that the number of apprentices who go on to study degree-level skills is just 2% and rising at a very slow pace. The Opposition are clear that our priority for expanding university level education is for technical degrees so that more apprentices can earn while they learn up to degree-level skills.

May I ask the Minister about the expansion plans? In the autumn statement, the Chancellor said that he would sell the student loan book to expand the number of degree-level places. On 20 July, the Secretary of State said that he and the Deputy Prime Minister had put that plan in the bin. Will the Minister tell the House what the story actually is? Are we going to expand degree-level places, and how on earth are we going to pay for them?

[Nick Boles]

Frankly, what is regrettable is that the Government of which the right hon. Gentleman was a major part created entirely phoney, Mickey Mouse apprenticeships, called programme-led apprenticeships, which involved no employment at all, no job and lasted less than a year. We make no apologies for culling those qualifications, which were a fraud on employers and young people. We are increasing the funding for higher apprenticeships and the plans have been set out.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

Since May 2010, more than 3,000 young people in Chester have started an apprenticeship scheme, and those fabulous opportunities have become available only because more than 600 local employers are offering apprenticeships. Does my hon. Friend have any intention of changing the incentives that companies receive for taking on apprentices in order to encourage more companies to get involved and for more young people to have this fabulous opportunity?

[Nick Boles]

I thank my hon. Friend for his comments. Chester is just one example. The truth, contrary to what the right hon. Member for Birmingham, Hodge Hill (Mr Byrne) has said, is that in 2012-13 more people were in an apprenticeship—that is, at the start, middle or end of one—than ever before. The more than 830,000 young people that year is a number that the previous Government never even came close to, despite their Mickey Mouse apprenticeships.

My hon. Friend is right about incentives, particularly for young people to take apprenticeships and, more importantly, for employers to take them on, because often they are the ones who require the most supervision, and that is exactly what our funding reforms will deliver.

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[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

4. What steps his Department is taking to increase the number of highly skilled workers.

[The Minister for Skills and Equalities (Nick Boles)]

The hon. Gentleman is far-sighted and consistent in his support for the need for advanced skills in our economy, and he knows better than anyone that there are two ways to acquire those skills—through a university degree or through an apprenticeship, ideally a higher apprenticeship. That is why the Government are expanding and improving both routes.

[Mr Sheerman]

I hear what the Minister says, but I would hate for him to go into the next election with the mantra, “Complacency, complacency, complacency” on skills. There is an OECD report on the lack of skills of our graduates in this country, and Sir Michael Bichard has said that 16 to 19-year-olds are not equipped in a country where we are desperate for skills and do not have enough technicians, and where there is a real problem. What will the Minister do about that?

[Nick Boles]

There is no complacency because we are aware of quite how terrible the situation was that we inherited from the previous Government. Technical qualifications had been created that had literally no value, and we have swept them away. As I said earlier, there were apprenticeships that did not involve any work or any employer, and we have swept them away. There is a huge amount more work to be done to ensure that young people who have not secured good GCSEs in English and Maths go on studying and get those qualifications later in their careers. There are a huge number of further priorities for us and for any future Government, but progress has been made and it is good.

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

5. What support he is providing to pubs.