Member News
The Conservatives have set out plans to offer businesses a £2,000 bonus for taking on apprentices.
The proposal is designed to create 100,000 new apprenticeships, and to help tackle social breakdown.
Small and medium-sized enterprises would be given the bonus for each apprentice who successfully completes the scheme.
Group training associations would be given funding to help small firms such as plumbers and electricians work together when offering training.
Bureaucratic burdens on employers would be reduced by creating a single funding scheme for all apprenticeships, not just those for young people.
Tory leader David Cameron unveiled the plans on Wednesday alongside shadow skills secretary David Willetts.
He said: "This is a particularly important policy paper as it is one of the areas where the social agenda and the economic agenda come together.
"Getting skills right is about strengthening society and strengthening the economy."
Willetts earlier told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There is a lot of evidence that if we want people to hold down a stable family relationship, being able to hold down a stable job is a particularly important part of it.
"These young men, they are being left to their own devices, not given the kind of practical training they really need so they are not getting into decent work... if you tackle that problem you can really start making a difference."
Stakeholder response: Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary, said: "We are pleased the Conservatives’ Green Paper recognises the importance of skills training and apprenticeships, both for the economy and for social cohesion. However, we remain to be convinced these proposals can be funded solely by reallocating existing funding.
"We fear reintroducing a Further Education Funding Council, which does not involve local authorities, will reduce the potential for local accountability.
"Providing good quality apprenticeships requires more than just money and dealing with red tape, so while the £2,000 (proposed in the Green Paper) would help small companies take on an apprentice, coping with the added responsibility of providing good training and looking after the young person’s welfare could be beyond the capacity of many small companies."
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd