Apprenticeships: Government Support

Richard Graham Excerpts

Tuesday 24th January 2023 Westminster Hall

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for Bristol South (Karin Smyth) for securing this debate on apprenticeships, although she will not mind me saying that she paints a picture that I do not entirely recognise. It is a great pleasure to be here with two colleagues—one of whom is the Minister—who employ their own apprentices, as I do. It will be interesting to hear from the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Chesterfield (Toby Perkins), how many Labour MPs employ their own apprentices. As he knows so well from the tennis court, there is a difference between talking a good game and playing one.

Let me pay tribute to the 14,000 apprentices who have started or completed—most have completed—an apprenticeship in Gloucester since 2010. That is a run rate almost three times the pace of the previous Labour Government, and it reflects new apprenticeships at places such as the cathedral’s masons’ shop, Punchline magazine, the Robinswood golf club, Hazlewoods accountants, GCHQ and many other employers, who frankly never had the opportunity to take apprentices before 2010, since when the scope has been hugely widened. In addition, our NHS acute hospitals trust has taken on almost 100 nursing associates for higher apprenticeships since nursing associate qualifications were introduced by this Government.

As I have hinted, apprenticeships are not an abstract affair for me. I asked the Government to increase their new commitment to additional apprenticeships in May 2010, before making my maiden speech—those were the first words I spoke in Parliament. I hired my first apprentice later that year, and I have done so every year since. I pay tribute to all of them: my first, Laura Pearsall—now Brooker—became the youngest ever Gloucester City Council councillor at 21; Aisha has become a team leader in the Home Office; Katie works with our mental health trust; and others work with a charity and the county council. My current apprentice, Mia, is South West Apprentice Ambassador Network apprentice ambassador of the year. All have done great work for our city and my constituents in Gloucester, while getting a level 3 in business admin—precisely the issue that the hon. Member for Bristol South is focused on. In the run-up to National Apprenticeship Week, I commend the opportunity to colleagues on both sides of the House.

I have a few quick suggestions for the Minister, with whom I have worked on apprenticeships for almost 13 years. Schools need to invite back more alumni who are apprentices to give their current pupils an idea of what apprenticeships are all about. There are some really good general training providers, such as Gloucestershire College, and great specialist providers, such as Gloucestershire Engineering Training. We MPs need to work with all of them and to persuade smaller companies that apprenticeships are not a bureaucratic affair but an investment, as others have rightly pointed out.

The apprenticeship levy has been much discussed today. It works for many, but not for all. There are some specialist courses that have not been structured as apprenticeships; for example, spectacle-makers’ qualifications have been, but those for construction and timber merchants have not yet been. There is also a real demand for cyber apprenticeships, but a shortage of teachers. Will the Government consider working more closely with the National Cyber Security Centre on how we can find more people to teach artificial intelligence and cyber apprenticeships?

As we come, at the end of this year, to the conversion of the first ever department store in Britain—a former Debenhams—into the University of Gloucestershire’s new city campus, will my right hon. Friend the Minister consider coming to Gloucester in early 2024 to visit our nursing associate higher apprentices?

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Perkins]

I accept the hon. Gentleman’s point. He has corrected me on what he said, but it is none the less the case that fewer apprenticeships are now being provided across the board than before the introduction of the levy. Whether he said it or not, it was none the less factually correct.

My hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale (Mike Amesbury) reflected, as he has done previously, on his own history as a careers adviser. He knows the importance of independent face-to-face careers guidance, which is one reason why the Labour party has made that such a priority. Other Members reflected on the fact that businesses and other apprenticeship suppliers are unable to get into schools. That is why, during the passage of the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022, we were keen to see the Baker clause introduced in another place. That would have meant that each student had three opportunities to see the alternatives to going to school sixth form. We think that independent careers guidance will play a really important role in that.

The hon. Member for Meon Valley (Mrs Drummond) said that many small businesses cannot access the levy. She is absolutely right. When the apprenticeship levy was introduced, an increased fund came in from the levy payers, but at the same time the Government massively reduced the amount they spent on apprenticeships. The result was that those that do not pay the levy are shut out. The Government are now allowing major businesses that pay the levy to donate some of their levy funds to their suppliers and others on a charitable basis, but it needs to be much more strategic than that.

The hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Dr Mullan) spoke about the importance of pre-apprenticeship vocational opportunities. He is absolutely right. Labour will look to push the skills and growth levy towards traineeship and pre-apprenticeship opportunities, and allow businesses to use their levy in that way.

The hon. Member for Gloucester (Richard Graham) was characteristically optimistic. He dismissed the fact that there are fewer apprenticeships than before. He said he has met employers who speak positively about apprenticeship opportunities, and he is absolutely right. He said that many employers never had the opportunity to offer apprenticeships before, but the reality is that the funding for apprenticeships was there. The Government have a different way of approaching it. We think there are many failings with that, and we are not alone on that. He also asked about how many Labour MPs employ apprentices. I do, and I am informed that my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale does too, but I am afraid I have not done an audit beyond that. He spoke about the importance of businesses and suppliers getting into schools.

[Richard Graham]

rose—

[Mr Perkins]

I want to give the Minister enough time to wind up, but I will allow the hon. Gentleman to intervene very quickly.

[Richard Graham]

That is kind of the hon. Gentleman. I mentioned all those organisations because those apprenticeships did not exist until we introduced the specific categories for them—accountancy, stonemasonry and all the rest of it. They did not exist before 2010.