David Cameron outlines apprenticeship overhaul

“For too long, United Kingdom businesses have invested too little in developing their employees’ skills to meet the demands of a competitive, global market”, Skills Minister Nick Boles said. “The real solution to more quality apprenticeships lies in giving greater control over their content and structure to the firms that need the skills they provide”.

The Government will ask business for its views on a new levy, first proposed in July’s Budget and designed to raise money to invest in more apprenticeships.

David Cameron has reiterated the Government’s commitment to the planned apprenticeship levy despite concerns from business leaders.

The government will pledge to support three million apprenticeships by 2020, which includes the publication of new “industry standards” designed to ensure that apprentices have the skills that companies need.

From 1 September 2015, all bids for government procurement contracts – which are worth £50bn a year – will be expected to demonstrate that they have “a reasonable proportion” of their workforce in an apprenticeship or formal training programme.

He said: “It is right that the Government is seeking to engage businesses and consult on the introduction of an apprenticeship levy… but for apprenticeships to take hold and become established, the focus should be on quality – not hitting an arbitrary figure”.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, meanwhile, said he wanted to increase the number of apprenticeships in the rail and road industries and promised 30,000 places by 2020.

The apprenticeship levy is due to come into effect in 2017.

Ministers are said to want to force big companies, many of which make millions of pounds in profit, to stop relying on the state to train their staff.

“The conveyor belt model is not what business wants to see”, he said.

“Government policy is now too focused on major employers, but equal effort ought to be put on encouraging and supporting smaller businesses to offer apprenticeships”, Mr Longworth said. “If the quality is there, the demand, from employers and potential apprentices, will follow”.