Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

In prefacing my reply I should declare my interest as a former apprentice, I suppose, so I have had some experience. Admittedly it was one or two years ago but it left a searing impression on me, in the best possible way. I shall set the scene before I launch into the detail. I do not want to engage in a particularly bipartisan way but I can resist anything except temptation, as Oscar once said. We pay tribute to the role played by the noble Lord, Lord Hunt; unfortunately, I was not at Second Reading but I observed the point about his involvement with the modern apprenticeships. Yes, the numbers had grown a bit, but from a very low base. Unfortunately, only just over 27 per cent of people were completing their apprenticeships, so nearly three-quarters were not. Maybe noble Lords think that it is hyperbole, but I believe that it is right to say that we have witnessed a renaissance in apprenticeships, because 10 years on we have 250,000 and nearly two-thirds of people are completing them. That is something to be proud of. It needed to be done, and perhaps I acknowledge that it built on a foundation. That is fair. There were lots of comments about the importance of quality, which I will address. The noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, made the point about employers, and that we need to ensure that we continue to generate apprenticeships if we are to meet the entitlement in 2013. I agree. That is why the Government have taken a number of steps to ensure that we do that including, as was specifically announced at the beginning of the year, £140 million for another 35,000 apprenticeships—15,000 in the private sector and 20,000 in the public sector. It is true that the public sector had 20 per cent of the employees and 10 per cent of the apprenticeships; I described it as apprenticeship-light, which is why we need to drive on that. I also draw to noble Lords’ attention that we have made it mandatory when people bid for public procurement contracts—first in construction, but we are moving on to IT and facilities management—that they will have to contain the number of apprenticeships and specify training. That will be another important area for generating apprenticeships. I was interested in and agreed with the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, about universities. Not only universities but schools and FE colleges have opportunities. Indeed, we have a champion for their promotion in universities, and another in FE. Some progress is already being made in those areas. We have created the National Apprenticeship Service precisely for that reason—to drive the creation of apprenticeships, and to be the one-stop shop for employers. Of course, we have also implemented the national Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching Service, where young people, teachers and parents can check what apprenticeships are available and employers can register their vacancies. It is in its early days, but it is already beginning to have some success. There is no doubt that, in the current environment, we will need to push as hard as we can to ensure that employers understand the need for apprenticeships. By and large, we are in a different situation from that in previous recessions. There seems to be recognition that apprenticeships will provide the core skills of the future. The best thing I can say about the concerns on disability is that we will address a lot of them on the fourth group of amendments. I do not want to anticipate too much of that debate, except to make it clear that it would be totally wrong to create an environment in which people with disabilities were excluded from apprenticeship opportunities, of course. Amendment 1 proposes a definition of an apprenticeship, and Amendment 13 would require that the proposed components of the definition were inserted in the interpretation of an apprenticeship framework. Amendment 70 uses part of that definition in relation to Clause 35, which regards careers education. I understand the intention behind these amendments, but we consider such a definition unnecessary. Part 1 sets out the four key elements that together provide the structure for the operation of statutory apprenticeships. The specification of apprenticeship standards will set out the standards that all apprenticeships in whatever discipline must satisfy. Apprenticeship frameworks, issued by the sector skills councils, will set out the specific requirements for apprenticeships in different trades or sectors. We are going through consultation at the moment on the specification and standards for apprenticeships in England. Apprenticeship agreements will in effect be the contracts between the employer and the apprentice, setting out their respective responsibilities and what each can expect from the apprenticeship experience. They will be really important. I concur with the points made by the noble Baroness, Lady Perry, about the importance of quality. That is what we are looking for. The Bill is about not just creating more apprenticeships but ensuring that they remain a respected brand, with people feeling that they are being given a real career opportunity and delivered a quality experience. Apprenticeship certificates, issued by the National Apprenticeship Service, will carry the appropriate sector skills council logo as an endorsement, and certify that the requirements of an individual apprenticeship framework have been met. I recognise that the desire of noble Lords opposite to set down in statute a concise definition of an apprenticeship flows from a genuine desire to ensure that the standards of apprenticeship are maintained. I share that ambition; it lies at the heart of why we have decided to legislate again on apprenticeships through this Bill. However, we believe that the quality will flow not from a few rather high-level and unspecific points included in the proposed new clause, but from the robust operation and monitoring of the four core elements of the apprenticeship programme that I have set out. A key part of the proposed definition in Amendments 1, 6, 57, 61 and 178 seeks a requirement in the Bill that an apprenticeship should include supervised training in the workplace. Of course I concur with that view. It lies at the heart of what an apprenticeship is delivering. It is no good delivering technical qualifications if the individual does not have the core competence and practical skills. A fundamental part of any apprenticeship is supervised training on the job with the support of an experienced work colleague. At the same time we should involve structured learning, away from the immediate work station. It must lead to competence in the relevant trade, profession or occupation. I humbly submit that merely referring to those elements in the way proposed by the noble Lords opposite does not complete the task. If I were an apprentice starting out, I would want to know how much time I could expect to spend away from the workplace and in college. I would expect to know what my employer proposes to do to ensure that I receive the appropriate training and support while in the workplace. I would want to know clearly what knowledge and skills I would need to demonstrate to complete my apprenticeship. In the same way, if I were an employer, I would also want to know precisely what my responsibilities were. That balance of rights and responsibilities needs to exist in this agreement between the employer and apprentice. Clearly, it would be impossible and inflexible to specify all this information in primary legislation for all 200-plus existing apprenticeship frameworks. Rather, it is better to specify these details in the specification of apprenticeship standards. Remember that we are enhancing those standards and criteria that we expect to be contained in an apprenticeship framework. Those standards will be the criteria that will determine the quality of an apprenticeship framework. They will be a matter of discussion and negotiation between employers and the sectors skills councils. They will be matched against the specification and standards. I recognise the argument that for many employers supervised work-place training will come naturally. I do not want to name any particular employers, but a number of good employers run first-class apprenticeship schemes. We want to make sure that there are not any situations where young people or mature apprentices end up in an environment where only lip service is paid to an apprenticeship agreement and people could be seen as being used as cheap labour. We need to be watchful for the rogue employer who will neglect his or her responsibilities and merely use the apprentice as cheap labour. While we were considering the amendments and the genuine concerns being expressed, it seemed to me that it would be appropriate if something apart from the specification laid down in the agreement between the employer and the apprentice was received by the apprentice at the commencement of their apprenticeship that made clear the rights and responsibilities of the employer and of the apprentice as well. We are looking at that. If apprentices have a complaint about the quality of the apprenticeship, we want to ensure that they know that they can raise that complaint with the National Apprenticeship Service. We treat seriously noble Lords’ comments about the importance of quality in any apprenticeship agreement. The Specification of Apprenticeship Standards for England and its Welsh sister document will require all apprenticeship frameworks to set out the principal qualification, in terms of the level of competence required; the level of knowledge and skills needed to complete the framework; and that only accredited qualifications can be used to meet the competence and knowledge elements of apprenticeship frameworks. That will be based on the accreditation process operated by Ofqual in England and the Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills in Wales. I also confirm that we plan to consult on the basis that the apprenticeship agreement, agreed by the apprentice and the employer, will set out the levels of on-the-job training and away-from-the-workstation structured learning. The apprenticeship agreement will also specify the total amount of training that will be undertaken to meet the requirements of the specific apprenticeship being undertaken, including both training on-the-job and training away from the workstation. If a rogue employer is reneging on their commitment through the apprenticeship agreement, the young person will be able to hold them to account in the same way as through any other contract of employment. They will also be able to complain to the national apprenticeship service, and we will ensure that young people embarking on an apprenticeship are aware of their rights and where they can go if they have a problem. That is profoundly important. In the light of all these safeguards, and in particular the assurance I have given that the apprenticeship agreement will include specific provision relating to work-based on-the-job training, I do hope that the noble Baroness and noble Lord will be prepared to consider withdrawing their amendment.