Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I must admit that putting my name to these amendments was motivated partly by a close personal interest in that my elder son chairs the North East Chambers of Commerce. One of the things he pleaded with me when we discussed the Bill was that it should firmly recognise the position of employers, as the noble Lord, Lord De Mauley, mentioned in an earlier debate. The fact is that the employers will lead this country out of the economic situation that we are in. One of the things that all of them are faced with is the problem of skills shortages. It is therefore highly important that everything should be done to identify where those skills shortages may be and to make certain that they are filled by those who have the relevant training and skills to fill them. It is therefore no good leaving aside the decision as to which apprenticeships are going to be available. All of us are aware that, despite the wish and intention to have all people of this age able to get an apprenticeship, the fact is that there will not be enough apprenticeships available for all those on the market. It is therefore essential that those that are filled are filled in a way that is relevant to the future, which must be the employers’ future. Merely mentioning it in the context of something is not good enough, so I hope that the Minister will agree to put employers in the Bill. I would like to raise one other small aspect of this because I could not see another opportunity of doing so. There is already one apprenticeship scheme in Her Majesty’s Prison Service, run by Toyota, in Her Majesty’s young offender institution at Aylesbury. Unfortunately, we have in this country a number of long-term young prisoners, but they do not lack ability. It is therefore absolutely essential that their future and ability to contribute to the life of the nation should be considered as well. I therefore hope that, in deciding where the resources will go, the Prison Service will not be left out. In that connection, I once had an interesting long conversation with the managing director of Leyland Trucks at Preston, who told me that he had had a skills shortage. One way he found of getting over it was to go to the prison to identify those who had the necessary ability and start training them so that they came out not just with a job to go to, but a job with a future. That was thinking ahead, but was of course only possible if the prisoners themselves lived in Preston; he could not do it for someone who came from Cornwall. I suggest that if you look at that right across the country, you will find that employers everywhere will be able to engage in that sort of process if they are dealing with their own. That of course brings me back to the point that employers are looking for their own in their own area with the right abilities. That is why it is so essential that it should be included in the Bill.