FErret
Apprenticeships receive the Clegg kiss of death
Bad news for apprenticeships, which have received the Nick Clegg seal of approval and will, therefore, inevitably be abolished by the coalition at the earliest opportunity.
The deputy prime minister displayed his famed political judgement in his choice of apprenticeship employer, however, opting to visit Morrisons' Bradford headquarters last week.
Morrisons, of course, is the employer most closely associated with Elmfield Training, which hoovered up millions of pounds of apprenticeship funding and deposited £3 million of them in the pocket of its chief executive, Gerard Syddall, while also buying up luxury homes with public cash.
Mr Clegg, meanwhile, is the politician who last year said: "Just as we have been quite tough on unsustainable and unaffordable things in the public sector, we now need to get tough on irresponsible behaviour of top remuneration of executives in the private sector."
With that pledge going the way of all Liberal Democrat promises, can Mr Clegg's announcement that he is a "massive believer" in apprenticeships prophesy anything but doom?
Principal wants to lead us up the garden path
In journalism, there is a genre of story known by the mock-headline: "Sugar is good for you, says sugar industry". The idea is that a source is being so transparently self- serving that they should be ignored.
The principal of Capel Manor College in London is surely not so cynical, but FErret wonders if he might not have pondered this formula before telling the Royal Horticultural Society that horticulture should be a compulsory part of the school curriculum and that all schools should be forced to employ a horticulturalist.
Doubtless his audience lapped it up like a sugary drink at a sugar industry convention. But is it really a failure as serious as our literacy and numeracy problems that "most people don't know how to grow their own food"? FErret looks forward to the principal of an arts college sounding the alarm on the crisis that we can't all paint a decent still life.
Comment (1)
Philip Whiteman, chief executive of Sector Skills Council Semta, welcomes government backing of apprenticeships but stresses that employers need the right support to help them succeed:
"Gentle humour around Nick Clegg’s apprenticeship support aside, FErret’s analogies certainly apply to apprenticeships. Many employers know they are good for business but don’t know how to grow their own.
"Only eleven per cent of companies in engineering and manufacturing offer apprenticeships so while additional governmental support for apprenticeships is fantastic news, many smaller companies need access to the right practical support and guidance.
"This is well-recognised in government. Bids for the new Employer Ownership Pilot have just closed. It gave businesses a unique opportunity to design and develop training solutions to the challenges they face. Employers bid alone or in groups into the UK Commission for Employment and Skills’ £250 million fund.
"At Semta, we believe it is right to put employers in the driving seat. Who better to influence the quality and content of training provision than employers?
"The reality, however, is that most advanced manufacturing and engineering employers are SMEs who are too busy getting product out the door to collaborate, agree priorities and deliver solutions. Therefore, it is important that businesses, and particularly SMEs have access to organizations that can help them navigate a complicated landscape, guide them on where an apprentice could deliver value to their business, and signpost funding options like the UKCES fund.
"Partners like Semta can offer valuable support - articulate skills priorities, identify collective solutions, support delivery and generate co-investment. For example, the Semta Apprenticeship Service takes on the entire implementation of apprenticeships, seeing us manage the process from recruitment, training and development of the individuals taken on as an apprentice. This partnership approach offers businesses the best return on their training investment, while also empowering them to develop the right skills for their business needs."
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16:21
11 May, 2012
ConsolidatedPR