Apprenticeships (Small Businesses)
Debate between Stephen Lloyd and Richard Graham(13 years, 5 months ago)
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Richard Graham
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He, too, has brilliantly anticipated some of the themes that I want to bring up. He is right to focus on two key elements, one of which is administration and the second of which is cost, which also brings in the crucial factor of value. Let us delve deeper into the question of bureaucracy or administration. There are perceptions out there that taking on an apprentice is a time-consuming business; those of us who have done so know that it is not.
Stephen Lloyd (Eastbourne) (LD)
I commend my hon. Friend for his tremendous generosity in giving way so often. It shows the passion and support that there is in the Chamber for this debate. I also congratulate him on calling the debate.
Before I ask my question, I thought that I would give my hon. Friend some good news. Many of us are making a real difference in the area of apprenticeships within our own constituencies. Two weeks ago, with the support of the NAS, I launched an Eastbourne initiative to recruit 100 apprenticeships in 100 days. That was 17 days ago. I got a call yesterday from the training providers to say that we have hit 103. I am now going back to Eastbourne to say that I want 200 apprentices in 100 days. That demonstrates the real hunger that is out there for apprentices from both small and large businesses.
My hon. Friend used to be a colleague of mine on the Work and Pensions Committee until he was promoted to grander things. He will know that the Work programme, which was launched by the Department for Work and Pensions, is an enormous, costly and laudable effort to help people into work, but it appears somewhat disconnected from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which runs the excellent apprenticeship programme. Does my hon. Friend agree that it would make sense for both programmes to link up, so that we can improve job opportunities for everyone?