Lord Taylor of Warwick – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick on 2015-10-19.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to improve the quality of the apprenticeship schemes, in the light of the conclusion in Ofsted’s report that very few apprenticeships are delivering professional level skills.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe

We have been taking steps to improve the quality of apprenticeships, including insisting that all apprenticeships should be paid jobs with substantial stretching training and robust assessment procedures and last for a minimum of 12 months. We are committed to delivering employer-led apprenticeship reforms, which are improving the quality of apprenticeships to provide the skills that employers need.

The availability of apprenticeships at a range of levels is essential to meet the skill needs of employers and improve productivity. We are committed to growing the numbers of Higher and Degree Apprenticeships, which are widening access to the professions, and developing the higher level technical skills needed to improve productivity and support British industry to compete internationally.