Redditch Liberal Democrats have welcomed Business Secretary Vince Cable’s announcement of new measures to help companies offering apprenticeships.
Liberal Democrats have long called for a significant increase in the number of apprenticeships to rebalance the economy and break down the barriers between academic and vocational learning.
Nationally, apprenticeships have increased by 50% to 440,000 since Dr Cable has taken control of the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills. Redditch faired even better with apprenticeships doubling from 440 to 880 between 2009/10 and 2010/11.
The new measures include:
- Offering employers with up to 50 employees an incentive payment of £1,500 to take on apprentices aged 16-24. This will encourage small employers to take on up to 20,000 apprentices.
- Streamlining processes so that it takes just a month for an employer to advertise for an apprentice.
- Ensuring that the National Apprenticeship Service better supports the needs of small employers – through more effectively targeted advice and guidance and helping training providers work more effectively with local SMEs.
‘Apprenticeships give young people an opportunity to gain valuable skills and experience as well as earning money.‘The financial crisis has shown that we need to rebalance the British economy, reducing our dependence on the City of London.‘Apprenticeships in towns like Redditch with busy manufacturing centres have an important role to play if we are to have real, sustainable growth.’
‘The growth in apprenticeships to more than double the planned ambition, demonstrates our commitment to delivering the skills businesses need to grow and young people need to build productive careers.‘We’re determined to do more to boost growth, rebalance the economy and extend opportunity. We’ll cut no corners on quality. Apprenticeships will remain the gold standard for excellence in vocational training – but where red tape serves no purpose, we’ll strip it away.
‘With every £1 of Government money delivering a return of some £40 to the wider economy, this is a sound investment in the country’s future.’
