Clause 1
5:00 pm
Siôn Simon (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills; Birmingham, Erdington, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman says that I have more or less said it. I have certainly told him that the matters he is discussing, such as how programme-led apprenticeships are to be presented and what they are to be called, are under review and out for consultation. It would be wrong of me to pre-empt the outcome of the review and consultation, particularly given that Lord Young of Norwood Green is the Minister with responsibility for apprenticeships.
To return to the reason why I started talking about programme-led apprenticeships, much of the hon. Gentleman’s discourse has suggested that programme-led apprenticeships are somehow integrated in the mainstream of apprenticeships or in other arrangements. They are not. An apprenticeship is a job and can be conducted only at work. Where else are jobs done, but at work? Under the Bill, an apprenticeship must be a job. The apprentice must be employed under a contract of service. The Bill also makes it clear that an apprenticeship is not just a job, but must include a formal training component. To specify that a job must occur in the workplace would be a truism.