MPs criticise low uptake of apprenticeships for under-18s

A Commons education select committee report found the number of 16- and 17-year-olds undertaking an apprenticeship had dropped since 2009.

In 2013/14 just 25,540 16-year-olds undertook an apprenticeship compared with 29,380 in 2009/10. Among 17-year-olds there was a drop of 1,810 over the same period.

This is despite a doubling of the number of apprenticeships for young people over the current parliament, which last at least 12 months and offer the prospect of a job at the end of it.

School careers advice services were criticised as "inadequate" for failing to promote local apprenticeships schemes. MPs found there was widespread misunderstanding in schools about the benefits of apprenticeships to young people due to a “cultural preference for the academic over the vocational”.

While the number of 18-year-olds undertaking apprenticeships rose from 46,220 in 2009/10 to 55,050 in 2013/14 the number of young apprentices was still “too low”, says the report.

The government is being urged to review incentives for schools careers advice services to ensure there is a focus on apprenticeships. Schools should also be encouraged by government to include work experience in the 14 to 16 curriculum.

Last week, youth training organisation Central YMCA released its manifesto that also called for better promotion of apprenticeships in schools.

Education committee chairman Graham Stuart said: “Schools need to provide their pupils with far better information on apprenticeships and the potential value of early experience in the workplace. The government must review and improve the incentives used to ensure schools provide good quality, balanced careers advice and work experience for their pupils.

“Apprenticeships are a viable, high-quality alternative to more academic routes and should not be seen or presented as a second-class option for young people. Strong efforts must be made to challenge prevailing attitudes that unduly favour academic routes and block access to information about apprenticeships."

Apprenticeship funding also needs to be overhauled, says the report, after MPs heard evidence that small- to medium-sized businesses were put off by its complexity. Being called for is a new funding regime where smaller employers are offered a choice to either handle their own funding administration or contract it out.

A new funding regime should also offer further incentives to employers that offer high-quality apprenticeships specifically to young people.

Stuart added: “Only those apprenticeships which offer substantial training and have a positive impact on income for those who complete them should receive government funding. Better data on outcomes and continued efforts to expand the number of participating employers can lead to more applicants and more places.”

A DfE spokesman defended the government's record on apprenticeships.

He said: “We welcome the report’s recognition that the number of high-quality apprenticeships for young people has doubled, and that apprenticeships offer excellent opportunities for young people and should not be seen as a second-class option.”