Apprenticeships

It is a privilege to follow the hon. Member for Liverpool, Walton (Steve Rotheram), a former apprentice, and I am grateful for being called to take part in the debate. As my hon. Friend the Minister said in his introductory remarks, apprenticeship places are central to the economic and social good not only of this country and our local communities, but of individuals. Youth unemployment is of course a significant concern for every right hon. and hon. Member. Looking back at the history of youth unemployment, it is shocking to see that between May 1997 and May 2010 youth unemployment increased by around 42%, and of course that is still very much a challenge as we face the current debt and international economic crisis, but it is even more important that we focus on properly skilling people, particularly the young, through apprenticeship places, and that is rightly a central commitment of the coalition Government. Much has been said this evening about national policy on apprenticeships, and I would like to talk about how translating that national policy at a local level is making a real difference in my constituency. I am delighted to report that in the past year the number of apprenticeship places in Crawley has risen by 70%, which is 20% above the national average. That is playing an important role, along with other measures introduced by the Government, such as the Work programme, to ensure that young people in particular can find routes into sustainable employment. I pay tribute to Central Sussex college, particularly its principal, Dr Russell Strutt, for the work it is doing. It is engaging hundreds of local young people and more than 1,600 local businesses with apprenticeship places across the board, whether in construction, health and social care, business administration, warehousing, hair and beauty or other areas of our diverse economy. Unfortunately, unlike what the hon. Member for West Bromwich West (Mr Bailey) described earlier, the proportion of people from Crawley going on to higher education in 2009-10 was just 17%, which is woefully low. I therefore very much welcome what Central Sussex college is doing in working with the University of Brighton to link local young people to the first-class, global employers in my constituency, such as Thales UK, Varian Medical Systems and Boeing UK, but we need to concentrate on more than just a higher education offer.