The Chancellor in yesterdays budget promised 100,000 new apprenticeships - against a background of rising apprenticeship numbers. Heres what Sarah Champion, MP (Lab Rotherham) said about that claim: The current figures paint a grim picture: almost 1 million young people are still not in education, employment or training, and today more than 730,000 more young people are out of work or underemployed than in 2005. We are seeing the beginnings of a generational crisis that will not only cause problems for young people today, but create a skills gap that will follow them into the future. If we do not give our young people the training they need to work now, the future of our long-term economy will be at stake. Young people want to work. We know that, but there is still a lot more we can do to invest in their future. Regardless of the Chancellor saying today that he will add 100,000 apprenticeships, the number of new apprentices fell by more than 25,000 in the past year. In addition, there are now more than 5,000 fewer under-19s starting apprenticeships than there were in 2009. Supply of apprenticeship opportunities is simply not keeping up with rising demand, with many young people missing out as a result. Added to that are concerns that many apprentices are not receiving the legal minimum wage, and a recent survey showed that 29% of apprentices are not being paid enough. What does the Budget do for apprentices who are not getting the minimum wage? What does it do for young people who want a job but cannot find one? I still believe that apprenticeships are not being taken seriously enough by this Government as a credible alternative for our young people. The level of apprenticeship applications outstrips the number of available places by 12:1, and the Chancellor’s announcements today will do little to address that. Nationally, think-tanks have reported that England currently has only 11 apprentices in place for every 1,000 jobs. Now is the time for us to turn the tables and invest in young people by creating more apprenticeships of greater quality.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 14:57:34 +0000
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