Apprenticeships

Sheryll Murray Excerpts

Monday 19th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Sheryll Murray (South East Cornwall) (Con)]

I am proud to be part of a Government who have seen the biggest boost ever in the number of apprenticeships. We have seen a rise of new apprenticeship starts of only 10% in my constituency, but that is partly because traditionally people from South East Cornwall have travelled across the Tamar to the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport (Oliver Colvile) for training. That has gone on historically and it continues and grows.

I want to tell the House about one young lady from my constituency whom we have helped. Charlotte Rose is doing an apprenticeship learning school administration through first-hand experience at St Martin’s Church of England school in Liskeard. This apprenticeship was made possible only through the cash incentives that the Government announced in November, offering employers £1,500 if they had 50 employees or fewer. Charlotte told me that she had planned to go to university, but she saw this as an opportunity, and I applaud Charlotte and the school for making that possible.

On Friday, I visited the Grayhound project in my constituency, and I was delighted to see that at last, through the apprenticeship scheme, shipwrights and marine electricians are getting training. It is easy for a shipwright to find work as a carpenter on a building site, but a trained carpenter cannot work in a shipyard and become a shipwright. The same applies to marine electricians. These skills have been traditional throughout South East Cornwall and they have been lost. I am delighted to be part of a Government who are providing the training, facilities and employers for those lost trades to continue. That is why I applaud what the Government are doing today.