Westminster Weekly: 18 – 25 July 2008

1. Tories launch apprenticeship policy

The Conservatives unveiled a policy on skills and apprenticeships on Wednesday 23 July to reduce the number of NEETs (the group not in employment, education or training) as part of an ambition to provide more marriageable working class men, more stable families and less crime.

David Willetts, Shadow Innovation, Universities and Skills' Secretary, told the Today Programme the Conservatives wanted to create more apprenticeships, "especially the Level 3 apprenticeships … which employers really value, that are the equivalent of A Levels."

Money would be invested with small businesses being given a bonus for creating apprenticeships and red tape would be cut. They also proposed to tackle the nearly 1 million NEETs by giving greater freedom to further education colleges and social enterprises to run schemes for them.

Mr Willetts said, "We want … to particularly focus on the apprenticeships that are equal to A Levels, the Level 3 apprenticeships, which are really where you start significantly increasing your skills, and there the number is actually lower than it was 10 years ago."

"Within the Government's Trying to Gain Programme we can shift well over £0.5 billion into helping improve the training and apprenticeships."

Richard Wainer, Head of Education and Skills, CBI, said there were concerns with NEETs but "employers will be willing to take these young people on to do apprenticeships if they've got the right attitude to work and learning, if they've got the basic literacy and numeracy skills."

2. Denham backs Vocational Qualification celebration

All eighteen-year-olds will be eligible for a new 'universal offer' of Government support for continued education or training, Skills Secretary John Denham confirmed on 23 July 2008, speaking at the first ever Vocational Qualification day.

John Denham will give details of the new offer at an event to mark 'VQ day' - a celebration of the estimated three million people who gained a vocational qualification in the last year. From this autumn, all eighteen-year-olds will be eligible for the new 'universal offer'

of Government support for continued education or training whether they do a vocational course, apprenticeship or study at university.

Speaking at the VQ day celebration event, John Denham said:

"In the coming years we want apprenticeships and other accredited vocational courses to be seen alongside university as a great way to get on and secure the best jobs, the best careers and the best life chances.

"That is why we have rescued apprenticeships, more than doubling the number that was available in 1997, and from this autumn will introduce a new universal offer for all 19- to 25-year-olds.

"It's a promise of support to all young people whether they choose to study at university, undertake an apprenticeship or do a vocational course.

"It is an important step towards ensuring those who don't choose to go to university get a similar level of support as those who do."

Later this year all 18-year-olds who do not have at least a level 3 qualification (A-level or equivalent) will be entitled to free training to that level until they are 25. The current limited offer for college-based students studying in their own time will be extended to all 19- to 25-year-olds including those being trained at work. We expect this will benefit around 100,000 19- to 25-year-olds over the next three years.

Those young people who are interested in beginning an apprenticeship, will be eligible for an 'Apprenticeship Credit'. This is a voucher to pay for the training that can be used to approach an employer to encourage them to offer an apprenticeship.

For the first time all 18-year-olds will have the choice to continue in publicly funded education or training whether at college, in work, or on apprenticeship or at university. The initiative will build on the Government's commitment to raise the participation age to 18 by 2015 and to greatly expand the number of apprentices.

Ten years ago only 75,000 people started apprenticeships. Over the past decade, the Government has more than doubled the number of young people and adults starting high-quality apprenticeships, with 184,000 starts last year. Success rates are improving too - last year 63% of apprentices completed their programme compared with just 24% in 2001.

But in recognition of the demand for apprenticeships they will be further improved and expanded. By 2010 the Government will invest an annual £1 billion and in the next decade it is anticipated that one in five young people will undertake an apprenticeship.

3. New Equality Bill based on fairness says Minister

The Government has published a new Equality Bill which is intended to draw together and update all the existing legislation.

Barbara Follett, Parliamentary Under Secretary for Equality, responded to questions raised by members of the public who phoned in to the BBC’s Call You and Yours. She said, "We've never had any laws about age discrimination … we're really saying to employers you have got to look at the person and take the person in to account not just dismiss them on the grounds of age."

She said, "If employers act responsibly and employees also act responsibility I hope that (the new legislation) won't result in too much extra case work but there will be a certain amount at the beginning … as people adjust but that's not a reason for not doing it.

"We're changing the legislation so that women and men can decide together who will make those choices within a family unit, we're changing maternity leave, we're making it more flexible … there definitely still is (sexism in the workplace)."

She said, "I'm hoping that this Bill will allow people of different ages to take up offers of apprenticeship … we're … working out how our ageism laws will work."

Asked about comments made by Trevor Phillips she said, "I thought how courageous he was and the key word that he used there was unfair or unfairly. This Bill is about fairness."

Patrick Diamond, Head of Strategy, Equality and Human Rights Commission, said, "Trevor (Phillips) in his speech yesterday was … arguing that although the issues of disability, gender, race, other areas of discrimination are rightly being tackled by the Government's proposed equality legislation that is necessary but not sufficient if we want to tackle some of the ingrained social and economic inequalities that we witness in our society today."

He said, "We have to complement the battle against discrimination with a new assault on social and economic inequalities if we're to achieve a fairer and more just society …we as a Commission need to be able to take those social and economic factors in to account if we're to tackle the discrimination that has been alluded to on this programme."

4. Parliamentary Recess

The Houses of Parliament rose for summer recess on 22 July and will return on 6 October 2008

5. Parliamentary Questions

To be added.