Apprenticeships (Small Businesses)

Debate between Richard Graham and Julian Smith

Thursday 9th June 2011 Westminster Hall

[Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to be here under your chairmanship for the first time, Mr Davies.

I am delighted that my hon. Friend the Minister has been able to find time at short notice to join us for this debate on a subject that lies at the heart of two of the greatest challenges for the coalition Government: first, how to increase growth in our economy and, secondly, how to reduce unemployment and, in particular, youth unemployment. Today’s debate on the take-up of apprenticeships by small businesses is therefore critical. During the next few minutes, I will lay out the structure of the debate in which I hope that as many hon. Members as are here today—there are many—will participate.

First, I intend to touch on the present Government’s approach to apprenticeships in general. Secondly, I will consider how successful that has been overall in the first year of the new coalition Government. Thirdly, I will examine the relative take-up of apprenticeships by large, medium-sized and small businesses. I hope that in today’s debate we will all focus to a large extent on businesses that are often described as micro-businesses—those employing 12 people or fewer. Of course, it is relevant that all of us in Parliament are in effect small businesses ourselves, employing typically between three and five people. I will come on to that aspect of the issue towards the end of my speech. Thereafter, I want to consider the obstacles to small businesses in taking up apprenticeships, how we might overcome them, what the challenges to overcoming them will be and what aspects of Government policy would help the process. Finally, I will bring all that together in specific recommendations.

The first question is the present Government’s approach to apprenticeships. The Government’s announcement immediately after the election last year that they would provide 50,000 additional apprenticeships, followed up later by a further 75,000, making a total of 150,000 new apprenticeships, was warmly welcomed by all of us who want to see business growth. That announcement sent a powerful message, especially to our manufacturing sectors, that this Government are determined not only to talk about rebalancing the economy, but to deliver by doing something practical to help that to come about.

Of course, apprenticeships today are not only about manufacturing. They are not the cliché of, on the one hand, hairdressing for women and, on the other hand, blokes in dirty overalls. They are about a much wider selection of opportunities. One of the things that I hope will come out of today’s debate is the breadth of opportunity—the breadth of training providers and sectors that offer apprenticeships. All my hon. Friends are seeing that in their own constituencies and of course have the possibility of taking on apprentices themselves.

There was a firm commitment right at the beginning of this Government to providing significant funding —hundreds of millions of pounds—for additional apprenticeships. That has been widened further. There have been significant efforts, led by the Minister, who has been a champion of vocational employment—[Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”] That has been warmly welcomed, as you can tell by the response from everyone here, Mr Davies.

Let me run through some of the detailed figures. Nationally, there are many more apprenticeships now than there were in previous years. Locally, as far as Gloucestershire and my own constituency of Gloucester are concerned, we have seen a significant take-up of apprenticeships; there were about 30% more apprenticeships in 2010 than there were in 2008. The general picture is therefore very encouraging. Of course, that is complemented by Government programmes to create, for example, 100,000 work experience placements and additional commitments to help 10,000 vulnerable young people, which I am sure all of us welcome.

[Julian Smith (Skipton and Ripon) (Con)]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for securing the debate. Does he agree that in addition to the number of apprenticeships increasing, the type of apprenticeships available has shifted under the present Government? The previous Government left thousands and thousands of people in the classroom; the present Government are committed to the provision of work-based apprenticeships. Does my hon. Friend agree that that is much better for young and older people who are undertaking an apprenticeship?

[Richard Graham]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right in what he says, although at some point in the debate we should touch on the removal from employers offering apprenticeships of the freedom to have the training element provided in the workplace. The new rules require 30% of the time to be spent away from the workplace, which for some employers is not necessarily practical. My hon. Friend and others may wish to comment on that as the debate continues.

The National Apprenticeship Service has provided the key facts. There are now more than 85,000 employers nationally offering apprenticeships in more than 130,000 locations, with almost 200 frameworks. That is highly encouraging. The statistics about employers who take on apprentices finding that it is a worthwhile thing to do are even more encouraging, with 80% agreeing that apprentices make their workplace more productive, which of course is ultimately the test in terms of the business growth element of the equation. Some 83% of employers who employ apprentices rely on those apprenticeship programmes to provide the skilled workers whom they need for the future.

The question for this debate is whether the take-up of apprenticeships by small businesses is quite so encouraging. I do not have the range of national statistics to argue the case as strongly as I would like to today, but I am sure that the Minister will share with us some of the Department’s research. I know that the Federation of Small Businesses has estimated that take-up by small businesses is only 8%. Anecdotally, in my own constituency and my own county, it is true that it is much harder to persuade a small business with fewer than 12 employees to take on an apprentice than it is to persuade, say, a company with 100 employees.

--- Later in debate ---

[Richard Graham]

My hon. Friend and near neighbour is absolutely right to congratulate the media in Worcester for taking forward the scheme. I congratulate him on making his commitment to take on an apprentice himself. When I outline the target that I have set for Members of Parliament, the Minister should note that we may be able to achieve it in fewer than 100 days, but I will deal with that towards the end of my speech.

My hon. Friend is right to say that the media has an important role to play. I should also stress that local radio can be extremely helpful, too. About six months ago, I held the Gloucestershire apprenticeships fair, jointly with the NAS, which is admirably represented in Gloucestershire by my friend Gina Johnson whom I was hoping to see here today. We had terrific support from Gloucestershire Media, which is something that could be replicated in Worcester, Eastbourne and elsewhere, and from Radio Gloucestershire. I strongly recommend my colleagues in the House to organise an annual apprenticeship fair; the national apprenticeship week is in February, which would be quite a good time to do so if they want to tie it in with national themes.

My hon. Friend the Member for Eastbourne also mentioned the co-operation between DWP and BIS. That is an inter-departmental question on which I will leave the Minister to comment in due course.

[Julian Smith]

Inter-departmental issues are coming up in the Government’s review of employment law at the moment. May I ask my hon. Friend to urge the Minister to ensure that all Departments focus on how we can create jobs and take on people, whether through apprenticeships or full-time employment?

[Richard Graham]

I am grateful for that intervention, and I am sure that the Minister will have noted that point and will come back on it in due course.

Developing the themes of our debate today, we now have to consider the obstacles that small businesses face in taking on apprentices. I have touched on the two key areas of bureaucracy and cost. On bureaucracy, the challenge for those of us who want to promote apprenticeships is that there are so many different ways of taking on apprentices. For example, it is generally the case that the training costs for 16 to 18-year-olds are entirely funded by the Government and those for 19 to 24-year-olds are half-funded by the Government. Members will find in their own constituencies that we have training providers who will provide certain training courses for 19 to 24-year-olds entirely free of charge. On the one hand, that gives the 19 to 24-year-olds a competitive advantage, and on the other, it offers to small businesses the opportunity to take on a slightly more experienced individual at a lower cost than might be the case normally.