Clause 10
6:15 pm
Siôn Simon (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills; Birmingham, Erdington, Labour)
I am extremely sympathetic to the point made by both the hon. Members. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Mid-Dorset and North Poole for giving me the opportunity to say a few words on this issue. As I said in the oral evidence session this morning, under clause 101, the chief executive of skills funding may provide or secure a range of services to assist “effective participation” of learners undertaking apprenticeships. We interpret that to include such services as would assist learners with disabilities to access apprenticeships. Therefore, funding for any apprenticeships is designed to support the whole scheme, including any necessary and appropriate support for people with learning difficulties.
As the hon. Lady said, amendment 227 would require all apprenticeship frameworks to meet the disability accessibility standards as defined in amendment 228. Those employing apprentices are already required to comply with the existing Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and will be covered by the provisions in the single equality Bill when it is enacted.