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The CBI yesterday commented on a report from the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee on apprenticeships.

Neil Carberry, CBI Director for Employment & Skills, said:

“Apprenticeships are vital to raising skill levels in our economy, and supporting people into sustainable careers. The Committee is right to say the Government should prioritise apprenticeships, and make them about delivering high-quality training, not just about high numbers.

“But the way to achieve these aims is not to heap further red tape onto businesses, as the Committee seems to suggest. Too many businesses are already turned-off by the scale of compliance required to get involved.

“Instead, we need a clear definition of the quality standard that apprenticeships should reach. And businesses need the Government to trust them to deliver apprenticeships, by giving them more control over the funding and content of courses. Too much of the current system delivers what the Government will fund, rather than what businesses need.”

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