Apprenticeships

Steve Rotheram Excerpts

Thursday 14th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[Matthew Hancock]

Indeed; we have already shut down the programme apprenticeship route, as it offered an apprenticeship without a job. One of the central arguments in the Richard report, with which I entirely agree, is that apprenticeships are about getting the skills required to do a skilled job. Of course that is absolutely critical.

[Steve Rotheram (Liverpool, Walton) (Lab)]

I am also one of the few former apprentices in the House. Will the Minister confirm that the average length of stay on an apprenticeship programme has significantly decreased? Does he agree that short-term programmes and courses for adults are not proper apprenticeships, and that they simply dilute and discredit the apprenticeship brand?

[Matthew Hancock]

Yes. The quality of apprenticeships is vital, and that includes the length of an apprenticeship. We have introduced a minimum duration for apprenticeships, and we insist that, in all but exceptional cases, they should last for the minimum of a year. That is in the report, but it is an area in which we have already taken action.