APPRENTICESHIPS COME OF AGE TO PLUG SKILLS GAP

Plans to expand modern apprenticeships (MA’s) and plug the skills shortages in key sectors with the launch of the new National Modern Apprenticeship Taskforce were set out today by Chancellor Gordon Brown and Education and Skills Secretary Charles Clarke.

Under the leadership of Sir Roy Gardner, the Taskforce will look closely at increasing opportunities for young people to participate in modern apprenticeships, and how to engage employers more fully in the programme.

At the launch in London today, Gordon Brown and Charles Clarke urged employers to reach out and compete for new recruits through the MA system.

Chancellor Gordon Brown said:

“Skills are Britain’s Achilles heel – 8 million people have below Level 2 qualifications, including 20 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds. And skills are critical to an individual’s chance of success - to push a teenager into the world of work today without any qualification is to put them at lifetime risk of poverty, failure and wasted potential. A skilled workforce is also essential for the wider health of our economy. As global competition challenges every industry and almost every service, a flexible labour market is an even more necessary means of achieving full employment and higher productivity.

“Modern Apprenticeships, which were all but dying out recently, are now flourishing with 220,000 young people now gaining skills and qualifications through the scheme. But more must be done and that is why the new Taskforce is so crucial - bringing together employers, trade unions, Government and the voluntary sector to ensure that the Modern Apprenticeship programme continues to grow and thrive"

Education and Skills Secretary Charles Clarke said:

"At a time when many employers report skill shortage problems we need boldly to address the training gaps in the present and future workforce. Modern Apprenticeships have a key role to play in giving young people the skills they need to do the job the high standards employers require. Much current Modern Apprenticeship provision is superb, indeed many Task Force members represent businesses with world class training programmes. Our vital task is to continue to strive to match that in all sectors and businesses, where recruitment and achievement is not what we would expect. We set up the Modern Apprenticeship Advisory Committee chaired by Sir John Cassels which reported in 2001 to help us do that.

"The Task Force announced today will build on the excellent progress so far in implementing the Cassels reforms by focussing on selling the clear benefits of Modern Apprenticeships within the employer community. In addition they will recommend modifications to the programme where there are clear blockages to employer participation."

Sir Roy Gardner said:

"We have a significant responsibility here to British industry and the economy generally to tackle the skills gap now facing many companies.

"At Centrica, about half of the 5,000 engineers we are recruiting at our British Gas business over five years will be through the Modern Apprenticeships scheme. I am sure that the first class team of business leaders we have recruited on to the task force will be able to devise measures to encourage many more employers to similarly utilise the scheme."

Bryan Sanderson, Chair of the Learning and Skills Council, said:

“We are establishing Modern Apprenticeships as the principal vocational route to drive up skills in the workplace and help businesses become more productive, innovative and competitive. However, we do need more employers to run MA programmes – for their own benefit, for the benefit of the economy and for an inclusive society.

“We have the demand from young people. Some 60,000 have responded to our recent information campaign and we need more employers to join us.

“So the Learning and Skills Council very much welcome the establishment of the Modern Apprenticeship Task Force with its remit of getting business to back the programme and I look forward to working closely with Sir Roy and his team to generate greater employer involvement in Modern Apprenticeships.”

The aims of the Taskforce are:

To increase the opportunities available for young people to participate in high quality Modern Apprenticeship programmes with a range of employers; and
To recommend effective and innovative ways of ensuring that Modern Apprenticeship programmes respond to changing needs of employers and young people.

The Taskforce will also look to encourage more employers to take on MA’s; increase the diversity of employers offering MA’s, with a focus on smaller employers; advise the Government and the Learning and Skills Council on forward strategy; and recommend proposals to make MA’s more effective.

Task Force members

Sir Roy Gardner (Chairman)
Ian Ferguson (Deputy Chairman)
Sir John Cassels
Roger Robinson Operations Director, Carillion Plc
Mike Turner CE, BAe Systems
Clare Chapman HR Director, Tesco plc
Anne Weinstock CE, Connexions Service Nat Unit
David Highton CE, Oxford Radcliffe NHS Trust
Sly Bailey CE, Trinity Mirror Plc
Dave Rogers Chair, ALP
Francis Mackay Chair, Compass Group
Allan Leighton Chair, Royal Mail
Margaret Salmon Chair, SSDA
Frances O'Grady Deputy General Secretary, TUC
Surinder Sharma Director of Diversity, Ford
Dick Oliver, Exec Director, BP plc
Anthony Goldstone, Former President, BCC
Sir Martin Sorrel, Group CE, WPP Plc
Clare Chapman, Group HR Director, Tesco
Michael Stephenson, MD, Helena Biosciences
George Kessler, MD, Kesslers International
Maggie Galliers, Principal, Leicester College
Bob Kerslake CE, Sheffield City Council
Digby Jones, Director General, CBI
George Cox, Director General, IoD

NOTES TO EDITORS

MAs provide opportunities for young people to develop skills in a work environment, with the costs shared between the Government and employers, and are at the centre of the Government’s strategy to ensure that all young people can access high quality education and training. Recent measures have done much to improve MAs, and participation is rising - with over 135,000 young people enrolling on MA courses each year. Employer involvement in MAs is critical to ensure MAs continue to meet the needs of UK firms and offer young people high quality training in a work environment. A National Modern Apprenticeship Taskforce was launched today to champion MAs and encourage more employers to get involved. The Taskforce will report to the Government, and to the Learning and Skills Council, and report on key policy issues.

The Taskforce will be led by Sir Roy Gardner, CEO of Centrica, and includes individuals from across industry and the education and training sector. Ian Ferguson, Deputy Chairman of the Taskforce, is Chairman of Data Connection and, as member of the Young People’s Learning Committee of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), he sat on the Modern Apprenticeship Advisory Committee and has chaired its successor, the Modern Apprenticeship Board.

Press Notices index 2003 January to June