David Cameron will announce a Skills Green Paper tomorrow morning that pledges to spend £750m on creating 100,000 apprenticeships.
The proposals, formulated by MPs David Willetts and John Hayes, will be aimed at over 18s and will include offering £2,000 bonuses to employers who train up apprentices and will also ensure that there is a full-time careers adviser in every school and college.
The plans will be funded by diverting money from the red tape that the Government's current cumbersome approaches to promoting apprenticeships currently impose on small and medium-sized businesses. Willetts said:
"We're saying to employers we'll lower the hassle and give you a bigger incentive... If we want stable families there has to be a man holding down a good job on a decent wage. If you can hold down a job you can maintain a family."
The Government launched a draft Apprenticeship Reform Bill of its own last week which pledged to give every school leaver the legal right to an apprenticeship. We'll update this post tomorrow with details from the speech.
Noon update July 23rd: David Cameron has just spoken about the proposals to a packed room at Policy Exchange. David Willetts gave a neat slideshow presentation and John Hayes, who is responsible for vocational education, also spoke. Click here to download the report.
"If we want stable families there has to be a man holding down a good job on a decent wage"
A man! A MAN!
What sexism.
Posted by: Felicity Mountjoy | July 22, 2008 at 20:19
Yeah - that is a weird quote, Felicity. I wonder how they got that? The context of the article seems to be talking about dads.
Posted by: Michael A | July 22, 2008 at 21:12
The apprenticeships are only for boys
The girls get to do cookery
(Ducks and runs for cover ........)
Posted by: brian | July 22, 2008 at 21:23
Brian Dear:
Haven't we taught you anything?
Girls don't need apprenticeships. We were born knowing it all!
;-)
Posted by: RMA | July 22, 2008 at 21:40
What sexism.
My wife and I have a small daughter. It is a fact of life that she prefers to be looked after by Mummy rather than Daddy - not that she doesn't like Daddy, but Mummy is better.
If you like I can explain to her that her views are politically incorrect, out of date, and hark back to an outmoded patriarchally hierarchical society (that social sciences course at uni wasn't entirely wasted you know). How this will go down with somebody who still isn't quite up to speed with counting to twenty I'm not sure.
Posted by: Alex Swanson | July 22, 2008 at 21:42
Never read nuffink of it, headline says it all.
This is the missing third way that will support schools, homes, and the broken society
Posted by: snegchui | July 22, 2008 at 21:56
RMA said: "Girls don't need apprenticeships. We were born knowing it all!"
Are you sure? That's what my wife says about men!
[NOTE: I have a wife, two daughters and a female cat. Talk about being outnumbered.... ]
Posted by: brian | July 23, 2008 at 00:32
Paying bonuses for private firms out of Tax payers money is not a good idea. A reduction in Corporate Tax for sound Corporate social responsibility is much better.
Posted by: Patrick Ratnaraja | July 23, 2008 at 00:32