Intervention on Apprenticeships

I was disappointed to not be called to speak in the debate on apprenticeships on Monday night - this was because I have spoken on a number of issues substantively lately, and with 650 MPs to get through, everyone needs to get their turn. However, I was able to at least make an intervention in the debate. I am pleased that nationally, the state of apprenticeships has been invigorated lately - there was a 58% increase in uptake in 2010. In Salisbury, this is also the case: the number of apprenticeships has increased by 36%. I am keen to support apprenticeships; in a time of high levels of youth unemployment, this is one of the most effective ways we can tackle the problem, and I believe the government's approach will be welcome.

Mr Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West) (Lab/Co-op): I have evidence to suggest that young people recruited for 12-week apprenticeships have ended up doing only five weeks, with a significant element of that time taken up with stuffing envelopes. The Government have paid for that as an apprenticeship course, which poses serious questions about the value for money that we are getting, the experience that we are offering to young people and the damage to the apprenticeship brand that could arise from it.

John Glen (Salisbury) (Con): I have been listening carefully to the hon. Gentleman's remarks. He seemed to suggest that the previous Government's university access policy was delivering something superior and he seems to be denigrating the status of apprenticeships. Is not half the problem that people talk down apprenticeships, which denigrates their status—that status is very important in encouraging people to take apprenticeships up in place of going to university—and delivers an outcome that is no better?

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