Last month TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber commented on the Draft Apprenticeships Reform Bill from the Queen’s Speech stating:

“The TUC welcomes measures to improve the number of apprenticeships on offer to young people starting out in the world of work and to older workers looking for a change of direction. More must be done to encourage employers to take on more young black and Asian people, and greater efforts are needed to support women into apprenticeships in areas like engineering and construction that are still dominated by the boys.
 
“If apprenticeships are to offer meaningful career opportunities, they must be of good quality, where apprentices are treated well and earn a decent wage. Legislative powers to regulate and promote apprenticeships give the opportunity to do just that, and it is important we get it right. The Government should ask the Low Pay Commission to review the current minimum wage exemptions that apply to apprentices.” Skills Active also stated that the bill proposed in the Queen’s Speech is being aimed at reforming the current apprenticeship system. The Bill will be jointly led by the Department for Innovation, University and Skills and the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.  This draft bill intends to regulate and promote their availability, as part of a drive to provide more workplace skills.  It runs alongside a review of apprenticeships currently taking place and which is due for completion in January 2008.  There are currently 250,000 apprenticeships available, offered by 130,000 employers. In step with plans to keep all young people in education or training until the age of 18, by 2013 all school leavers will be entitled to an apprenticeship place. The government has a target of 500,000 apprenticeships in the UK by 2020 - 400,000 of which will be in England. The plans call for a statutory definition of what an apprenticeship means and a “right to public funding for apprenticeship programmes”.  It also proposes a duty on public bodies to offer apprenticeships and will amend the minimum wage regulations on the current apprenticeship exemptions. In addition, on Wednesday the 28^th of November TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber responded to the Prime Minister’s commitment to ask the Low Pay Commission to look into apprenticeship pay by saying:  ‘The TUC welcomes the Prime Minister’s commitment to look into apprenticeship pay. Apprenticeships help many thousands of people into skilled work every year, but the poverty wages that some receive deter people from taking them up and lead to many dropping out.

 ‘Increasing pay will boost the reputation of apprenticeships as an attractive route into work. This is vital if the Government is to deliver its expanded apprenticeship programme, announced last week.’ 

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