Clause 15
Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill
9:45 am
Nick Gibb (Shadow Minister, Children, Schools and Families; Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Conservative)
As the Minister says, clause 15, as originally drafted before these amendments, says:
“The Secretary of State may by order provide for an existing vocational specification to be treated... as if it were an apprenticeship framework”.
Obviously, there need to be transitional arrangements. Our concern is about what, precisely, will be in the order. Which existing vocational specifications will become apprenticeships? Again, it is about quality, as my hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings mentioned. The concern is to ensure that this is not just another method of creating vast numbers of apprenticeships out of things that are not actually apprenticeships. If the Minister listed all the vocational specifications that he intends to put in the order, it would help the Committee.
The Government amendments seem to broaden the scope of clause 15 further by extending the transitional arrangements to include apprenticeships for 16 to 18-year-olds. An assurance from the Minister about quality will help to ensure that the amendments have a swift passage on to the statute book.