Apprenticeships

Stuart Andrew Excerpts

Monday 19th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[Stuart Andrew (Pudsey) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to take part in this very important debate.

Being unemployed is a terrifying experience that I went through a number of years ago. For me, that new year’s eve was not about looking forward to welcoming in the next year and everything that was hoped for, but about receiving my P45 and thinking what the prospect of unemployment would hold for me. During the time I was unemployed, I began to realise what work was really about. It is about more than earning money. Of course, that is a vital part of going to work, but it is also about self-worth, the reason for getting up in the morning to go and achieve things, and social interaction with the colleagues with whom one works. When I was unemployed, I found myself without any of those things. Money was scarce, and I had to make the choices between whether to put money aside for gas or for electricity—did I want to be warm or did I want to watch television? Those stark choices were very difficult. There was not much to do, either. I like to be busy and active and to have a purpose, and I dearly missed that daily contact with colleagues.

Of course, in this Chamber we all want to make party political points. I sometimes find it hard to listen to Labour Members talk about the youth unemployment statistics. One would think that this was a new phenomenon that had existed only during the past year. The fact is that it has been a growing problem for a good number of years, and we need to do everything we can to deal with it. It is simply not acceptable to see so many people out of work. It is not good for them, it is not good for the economy, and it is certainly not good for our society. The evidence is that this problem is not unique to the United Kingdom; we need only look at other countries such as Spain to see how difficult it is.

So how do we deal with the problem? There are many ways. For years, our education system has concentrated too much on those who go into academia. What about the rest? I never went to university—it might show, of course—but I was fortunate enough to find a job early on. I always had a sense that I had failed somehow because I had not gone to university. My brothers were in exactly the same position. They found themselves with young families and low incomes, and going out to retrain had a huge personal and financial cost for them, but they did it and I am very proud of them for that. Apprenticeships are a way of tackling youth unemployment. We often hear the older generation talk with real pride about the apprenticeships of the past helping people to learn new skills and develop a trade. One of the hurdles that we will have to cross is the immense snobbery that remains about people who decide to go into apprenticeships. We should be proud of those who make that choice.

The Government should be congratulated on getting off to a fantastic start. I have noticed that every Member has referred to the figures in their constituency, so I will carry on the tradition. I am proud that in Pudsey 460 people took part in apprenticeships in 2009-10, and that figure has gone up to 770 in 2010-11—a growth of 67%. That is hugely impressive, but it has not happened by accident. Despite dire public finances and tough public spending decisions, the Government have increased investment in this area, and that must be welcomed as a crucial policy that demonstrates a real desire to tackle the problem. Some of the schemes may be basic, but many people out there do not have the basic skills they need for a job, and it is important that we give them the opportunity to acquire them.

One of the companies in my constituency, Airedale International, is very successful, but its customers’ increasing demand for state-of-the-art products means that it needs highly skilled employees, and the managing director said to me during a recent visit that they are simply not available. The company has had to invest £250,000 in a new training and apprenticeship skills centre so that it can get the people that it needs to do the job.

I urge the Government to continue with this excellent policy to help young people and to continue to talk to industry to ensure that we have the skills that it needs so that ultimately we can create a competitive, skilled economy and hope for those whose futures might otherwise be bleak.