SNP accused of apprentice cut

Scottish education secretary Fiona Hyslop has been accused by Labour of increasing unemployment through cuts to the apprenticeship programme.

 

Labour MSP Rhona Brankin said the nationalist administration has reduced the number of adult apprenticeships by 79 per cent, a reduction from 6,225 last year to 1,229 this year.

 

Speaking in the Scottish parliament, Brankin said: "Of course, on planet Hyslop this wasn't a cut.

 

"Oh no, it was as her Scottish government press release put it, a 'refocusing of support'.

 

"So now we know when the SNP cuts apprenticeship places, when the SNP cuts teaching posts, when the SNP cuts police numbers, these aren't really cuts - they are just 'refocusing support'."

 

She claimed that the support for adult apprenticeships had been withdrawn in expanding areas like tourism, IT and retail.

 

The move also meant lay-offs in respected training providers, she added.

 

"The Scottish Training Federation estimates that around 400 employees have lost their jobs in members companies under her watch. Is the cabinet secretary proud of that statistic?"

 

Brankin added that the previous Labour-led administration had presided over a rise in the number of apprenticeships from 2,000 to 35,000, while unemployment was halved.

 

But SNP skills minister Maureen Watt said the "refocusing" was necessary because there could not be "English solutions for Scottish challenges."

 

Watt said: "Now is the time to turn this around and allow Scotland to achieve its full potential.

 

"This potential will not be realised by importing English solutions or on adopting a target-driven, supply-led skills system."

 

A "one-size-fits-all" approach to skills intervention is not the solution for Scotland, which must instead adopt a range of different approaches.

 

Changes to the modern apprenticeship (MA) programme announced by the government will increase the numbers taking engineering and construction MAs by 1,000.

 

A new life science MA, with the opportunity to develop level two MAs has also been introduced.

 

"In order to provide Skills Development Scotland with the space it needs to deliver the universally endorsed skills strategy, we are directing all new support for adult MAs to only engineering and construction related sectors," Watt said.