Apprenticeship drive failing to deliver for young people, MPs declare
Young people have not benefitted from recent increases in apprenticeship numbers
The government’s drive on apprenticeships is failing to deliver for young people, with the vast majority of the recent increases in apprenticeship starts relating to people over the age of 24.
According to a report submitted to a select committee of MPs by the committee on social mobility and child poverty, the number of young people starting apprenticeships has in fact shown little change since 2010.
Apprenticeships were also found to not represent a significant step up for young people when compared with academic courses. Most apprentices of A Level age do GCSE-level apprenticeships, whilst 97 per cent of university-age apprentices do apprenticeships at A-level equivalent or lower.
The report highlighted that the majority of youth apprenticeships are in sectors which typically have low pay and limited chance of progression, such as health and social care, business administration or hospitality and catering.
Whilst efforts to improve the overall quality of apprenticeships as well as the number of apprenticeships available were recognised by the report, the commission said that more effort was needed to improve the quality of apprenticeships for young people.
Commenting on the report’s findings, chair of the commission Alan Milburn said: The number of young apprenticeships has flat-lined since 2010 and many of these apprenticeships don’t offer young people a foundation they can build on.
the government needs to increase the quality of apprenticeships on offer to young people and make sure that every apprenticeship offers a genuine route to success, he added.
Fred Heritage was previously deputy editor at Business Advice. He has a BA in politics and international relations from the University of Kent and an MA in international conflict from Kings College London.
Hiring an apprentice may seem like a costly and inefficient exercise when compared to recruiting a candidate with the necessary skills, experience and qualifications but this isnt necessarily the case. National Apprenticeship Week 2016 sees the government encouraging firms of all sizes to consider apprentices when thinking about growing a business. more»
In this series of articles, we have broken down the small business recruitment process into its essential steps and explored the critical success factors required to ensure that you identify precisely the role you have available and therefore the ideal profile of the candidate you need to recruit. more»