Asked by: Stephen Timms (Labour - East Ham)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he is taking to ensure that ethnic minority applicants for an apprenticeship are fairly treated; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Nick Boles
Apprentices are real jobs and as such, employers who wish to recruit an apprentice have to comply with the Equality Act 2010 and other legislation, as they would when recruiting any other employee. The legislation seeks to prevent unfair discrimination on a number of grounds including race.
The Institute for Employment Studies carried out a review of ethnicity, gender and apprenticeships for the Skills Funding Agency in 2013. It explored employer practices for evidence of bias and made a number of recommendations many of which are being implemented.
The Department for Business Innovation and Skills has also recently established an apprenticeship equality advisory group to help increase apprenticeship diversity.