Clause 1
5:00 pm
Siôn Simon (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills; Birmingham, Erdington, Labour)
The hon. Gentleman makes a welcome and constructive intervention. I can tell him and the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings that I have just remembered that we have announced a prospectus for a £7 million funding stream to be published in April to help fund the expansion costs of ATAs and GTAs, which I know will warm the cockles of his English heart.
The apprenticeship agreement—the key contract between the apprentice and the employer—will set out the core responsibilities and what each can expect as part of the apprenticeship experience. As I said earlier, I have written to hon. Members setting out the prescribed terms that we consider an apprenticeship agreement should cover. Our intention is that the agreement should state that the employer should provide opportunities to learn and practise the skills demanded in the apprenticeship framework and will provide supervision and mentoring support to the apprentice.
Clause 2 is intended to ensure that the apprentices who, for example, might have completed the course of training for the principal qualification before entering into an apprenticeship and who would not therefore satisfy all the requirements in clause 1, can still receive their apprenticeship certificate.
I stress, as we have stressed in the explanatory notes, that we would only expect certificates to be issued under clause 2 in the most exceptional of circumstances. Apprenticeships in this position would need to satisfy all of the requirements of the framework and we would expect the certifying authority to ensure that appropriate work-based learning has been undertaken during the course of the apprenticeship, so that a certificate can be issued.
I hope that Opposition Members will accept that we share their concerns about this issue and that supervised work-based training will form part of all apprenticeships, including those offered as part of the apprenticeship scheme part 4, and that there is already adequate provision for that, both in the Bill and in the core documents that flow from it. Having given these reassurances, I hope that they might be prepared to withdraw their amendments.
Amendment 113 is slightly different. Clause 80(5) defines apprenticeship training very broadly as that connected with:
“ (a) an apprenticeship agreement,
(b) any other contract of employment, or
(c) any other kind of working in relation to which alternative English
completion conditions apply under section 1(5).”
Removing paragraph (b) would mean that apprentices would either have to have an apprenticeship agreement to fall under the chief executive’s responsibility or would need to be in other kinds of work outlined in paragraph (c). The Government have made very clear their commitment to apprenticeship agreements, and the inclusion of paragraph (b) is not intended to undermine that commitment. When the chief executive takes on responsibility for apprenticeships’ training provision, he will inherit apprentices who will not have apprenticeship agreements but who may have acceptable contracts with employers all the same. The inclusion of paragraph (b) allows current apprentices and employers to continue their arrangements as they stand, without needing to sign retrospective agreements.