Clause 25
Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill
1:15 pm
Siôn Simon (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills; Birmingham, Erdington, Labour)
The fundamental difference between these provisions and the position in law at the moment is that the provisions are not in law at the moment. It is fair to say that the specification of apprenticeship standards for England will have much in common with the existing apprenticeship blueprint. Obviously the SASE, as we all know by now, is currently out for consultation and one would not want to pre-empt that. But it is reasonable to say that there will be much common ground between the two documents. The difference is that this specification is being put on a statutory basis for the first time in 200 years: the current blueprint does not have statutory force.