Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

My Lords, the Bill comes at an important time. As businesses are struggling to cope with the difficulties that the recession brings, the most responsible and farsighted of them are looking beyond the current downturn to see how they can position themselves to take full advantage of the upturn and recovery when it occurs. Those who are able to maximise their workforce’s skills will be in a much better position than those who do not. It is right that the Bill focuses on apprenticeships and equipping our young people with the skills our economy will need, and I will focus much of my speech in that area. I declare an interest as a governor of Bolton School, a trustee of AGBIS and a trustee of the Transformation Trust. I shall also touch briefly on children’s centres. The Bill concentrates on their structures and how they are governed, but I share the concern of many organisations that the structure should not be too prescriptive. There should be maximum flexibility, especially where the children’s centre is run by private or voluntary-sector organisations. While I am on the topic of PVI providers, especially in childcare, the Government have always said that it is their wish to work with that sector, yet we keep hearing stories of nursery groups struggling financially. It was reassuring to see that the Bill includes measures to ensure equity in funding between the PVI and maintained sectors. If parents are to have genuine choice in childcare, we need a strong private, voluntary and independent sector, and that includes childminders, where the fall in numbers is alarming. There is something of a dichotomy at the centre of the Government’s approach to apprenticeships. On the one hand, they have talked a lot about the benefits of skills training, vocational education and alternative routes to employment, and apprenticeships and skills have unquestionably been a large part of their narrative on education. On the other hand, there has remained the implicit assumption that the academic route is preferable. We have had the arbitrary target of 50 per cent participation in higher education, which was motivated by concerns over social mobility. Of course it is right that access to higher education should be equally available to all those with the ability to benefit from it regardless of their background, but aiming for a fixed quota gave the impression that other educational routes were inferior. Then, on the new diploma, we have had a creeping "academisation"—I do not know if that is a proper word; if it is not, I am sure that Hansard will replace it, but noble Lords know exactly what I mean. Let us not forget that the diploma was conceived as a new qualification, intended to be a distinct alternative route into employment, with employers positively engaged in the development of their content. At first there were to be diplomas in areas strongly related to employment sectors—construction, engineering, leisure and so on—and they were broadly welcomed. But then the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families announced in 2007 that there would also be new academic diplomas in science, languages and humanities. That went completely against the spirit of a vocational diploma, and was rightly criticised by the CBI, my honourable friend Michael Gove and most recently the Joint Council for Qualifications, which has now urged Ministers to delay their introduction. Rather than tagging academic strands on to vocational qualifications, we should instead be seeking to define more strongly the vocational path into employment and be proud of it. Of course it should be easier to move between the different paths—to go from an engineering diploma or apprenticeship to an engineering degree, for example—but the key is to start celebrating the distinctiveness of the vocational route and to showcase its advantages. In the current economic climate there are all too many graduates who find it difficult to find employment, but there is still huge demand for highly skilled workers. Rather than being a second-class educational route, vocational training now often has the edge on traditional academic subjects in the employment market. Some higher education institutions, particularly the new universities, are well placed to respond to this. The University of Bolton, which I know well, prides itself on engaging positively with employers and providing graduates who are employable as well as well educated. The history of the institution is rooted in work-based learning and vocational training, so it is a proud tradition in Bolton. The Bill’s focus on apprenticeships is certainly to be welcomed. It is not, of course, the first legislation relating to apprenticeships. As many noble Lords will know, but could be forgiven for not remembering first hand, the Statute of Artificers 1563 first laid down terms and conditions for apprentices, and its provisions largely shaped the way apprenticeships worked for the next 400 years. It is worth remembering that in more recent history the revitalisation of apprenticeships began 15 years ago when my noble friend Lord Hunt of Wirral, then Secretary of State for Employment, introduced reforms creating modern apprenticeships in 1994, and he deserves great credit for that. He was in his place at the beginning of this debate, and has popped in and out, but today is his 36th wedding anniversary, and I think he had strict instructions to be home early. It should not be a surprise that Conservatives support apprenticeships. However, we share the concerns of the two Select Committees that examined the draft Bill that the quality of apprenticeships offered should not be sacrificed to quantity. We know that Ministers like to have targets, but it is more important to get the quality of each apprenticeship right. They should be work-based, not programme-led. Most people’s understanding of an apprenticeship is that it is hands-on learning in the workplace, and we should reflect that. However, I have sympathy with Rathbone, which has been in touch with a number of noble Lords to say that it places some of the most difficult young people and that starting out on a programme-led apprenticeship is often a vital step leading to learning in the workplace. I turn to the abolition of the Learning and Skills Council. While it is true that since its creation it has been a somewhat centralising and unresponsive institution, the proposed new arrangements may well give us cause to miss it. The creation of three new bodies, the Young People’s Learning Agency—in her opening remarks the Minister said it would be a light-touch national body, which might be an oxymoron—the Skills Funding Agency and the National Apprenticeship Service, has been criticised by the British Chambers of Commerce and others for potentially descending into bureaucratic muddle, and it is hard not to agree. When we add to that the passing of 14-19 provision to local authorities, it becomes even more confusing. FE providers were freed from local authority control in the 1990s, which we heard my noble friend Lord Baker of Dorking speaking passionately about, and they must remain free if they are to continue to thrive. It is right to decentralise, but what is proposed in the Bill is not proper decentralisation. It seems more like casting asunder the LSC's responsibilities, with the pieces being caught in different parts of this cobweb of quangos. Explaining how they will all link up with each other and with local and national government would require an organogram of which Heath Robinson would be proud. One of the most seriously wrong-headed proposals is the transfer to the Young Person's Learning Agency of a number of responsibilities for the academies programme. We have seen a gradual watering down of the autonomy of academies in recent years since the days when the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, was first involved in pioneering them. Their freedom is their very essence, and has been shown to work very effectively. It is hard to see how this proposal to put academies under the remit of the YPLA can do anything other than restrict those vital freedoms and make them less effective. That would be a tragedy. Finally, I must say a few words about careers advice. The Bill makes provision for ensuring that schools include in their careers advice information about apprenticeships, but many organisations, including the Select Committee, have argued that this does not go far enough in promoting apprenticeships as an alternative pathway for young people, and I agree that the wording could be stronger. The YWCA, a charity that works with disadvantaged women, has argued that reform of careers advice offers the chance to challenge gender stereotypes in apprenticeships. This is certainly a worthy aim as the figures show that 97 per cent of apprentices in child care are women, contrasting with 3 per cent in engineering. Are we confident that every potential female engineering apprentice has been advised of the option and has considered it? These examples illustrate a wider point: the guidance of young people in their career choices is an important, life-changing responsibility, and it has to be done properly. Not all schools can offer the level of expertise required from their own staff, but they should have access to such specialist advice for all their pupils. Providing proper advice on the options available and, more importantly, guidance on their suitability for the individual can prevent the waste of talents that results if the wrong options are taken. This is one of many issues that will be debated in Committee which, judging from the speeches of noble Lords, will be very lively.