New inquiry a chance to tell government what you think about Apprenticeships

The Sub-Committee on Education, Skills and the Economy has launched an inquiry on apprenticeships. With the Apprenticeship Levy on its way and a major shake-up of training provisions expected, this is another good opportunity for members to have their say on a highly important subject.

The joinery and woodworking industry needs more high quality apprenticeships to reach its recruitment target of more than 4,000 new people a year for the next four years. Now that  the term apprentice is being applied to 12 week courses, this is also an opportunity to make clear that an apprenticeship has to be more than simply training for a job, but focussing on preparing for a career.

If you haven’t already, please feed your views in via this survey.  To date 60% of members responding have one or more apprentices, but approaching a third are not happy with their training provider.

Submissions should address some or all of the following points:

– The target of three million apprentices by 2020, how the Government proposes to achieve this and how this may affect the 'skills gap'
– The proposal for an apprenticeships levy and how this may be implemented
– The institutional architecture of current provision and how this may be affected by the proposed Institute for Apprenticeships
– Take-up of apprenticeships amongst 16–19 year olds and steps that can be taken to make more young people aware of available opportunities
– The process of applying for apprenticeships
– Routes for progression to higher qualifications for current apprentices
– The quality of, and minimum standards for, apprenticeships, and how standards can be enforced
– Lessons from other countries' approaches to apprenticeships

The deadline for written evidence is midday on Friday 18 March 2016. Could you please send any evidence that would assist BWF’s response through to matthew.mahony@bwf.org.uk by midday on Wednesday 16th March.