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The Labour Party has launched a plan to increase the number of high-skilled apprenticeships in the UK.
Shadow business secretary John Denham said that Labour's "jobs-for-contracts" scheme would help many of Britain’s one million unemployed under-25s.
With the government spending £220bn a year on goods and services from the private sector, he argued that it has the ability to persuade companies to carry out more training.
The proposal is to be launched as part of Labour's 'Britain's Lost Talent' campaign.
The party say the Tory-led coalition has dropped Labour’s guarantee of an apprenticeship place for every young person who wanted one. And it has abandoned the commitment to apprenticeship places through procurement.
Under Labour's plan, any company wanting to win public sector contracts would have to prove it offered apprenticeships to out-of-work youngsters.
Denham said: "At a time when record numbers of young people are out of work and facing a challenging future, the Tory-led government should be doing everything it can to support opportunities, helping young people to improve their skills and get good jobs.
"It could take immediate action by supporting the creation of thousands of apprenticeships in companies that provide services to government including construction projects."
Labour's new proposal comes a day after government figures suggested the number of Neets - 18 to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training - has risen to more than 18 per cent (979,000) in England.
The figures, covering the second quarter of 2011, are the highest for this time of year for five years, and 107,000 higher than for the same period last year.
Article Comments
Why didn't Labour do this 10 years ago, when they were in power.
michael finn
25th Aug 2011 at 9:48 pm
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd
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