Partner Article

A vision for the future

SKILLS Minister John Hayes yesterday set out his vision for apprenticeships and reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to work-based learning and training.

He told an audience at the Group Training Association England annual conference that the Government was firmly committed to expanding apprenticeships and making them more accessible to learners and businesses.

The minister spoke of the role Group Training Associations (GTA) play in helping businesses, particularly small businesses, take on apprentices and challenged them to engage with more employers and get them involved with the apprenticeships programme.

He said: “The truest measure of the success or failure of this Government’s commitment to apprenticeships will be found in how well-equipped today’s young people will be in future years to face the shifting challenges of life and work.

“To be successful in that, we must create a radically new model for workplace training with apprenticeships at its heart and with partnership between Government, employers and individuals as its motive force.

“We have promised to re-shape the apprenticeships programme to ensure that it provides more high-quality training opportunities. We have already begun to deliver on that promise by redeploying £150 million to provide an extra 50,000 places.”

The minister told the audience at the Institute of Directors that the Government would expand and improve the apprenticeships programme by building on the existing strengths of the GTA sector.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .