Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

My Lords, the entitlement that is currently proposed is really quite limited. For somebody without level 2 qualifications, it guarantees that they will have access only to a level 2 apprenticeship, but to nothing further beyond that. That would be the equivalent, on the academic route, of guaranteeing somebody without GCSEs the entitlement to study for GCSE grades A to C, for example, but it would not guarantee them, if they were successful, the right to progress to A-levels or diplomas. We would never consider a block to progression of that kind along the full-time route and we should be equally unwilling to consider a block to progression along the part-time route. Therefore, we urge that anyone who completes a level 2 apprenticeship before their 19th birthday should be entitled to progress to a level 3 apprenticeship. If their existing employer did not want to provide one, the National Apprenticeship Service would have to help them to find a place elsewhere. As I have said, this is a matter of fairness, but it is also much more important economically as a matter of national efficiency. On the continent, the standard apprenticeship is taken at level 3. Unfortunately, in our country the most common apprenticeship for young people ends at level 2. The major reason for that is the low rate of progression by those who get level 2 to level 3. When the Economic Affairs Committee of this House reported two years ago, only 20 per cent of those who completed level 2 were progressing to level 3. That is just not good enough. We have to build in an automatic entitlement to progression, for the sake of both fairness and efficiency. We strongly urge the Government to accept our amendment.