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Builders 'need more support' if apprenticeship plan is to work
28/10/10
Edited by Bob Witham.The government must provide more support for small construction companies if it wants its plan to boost adult apprenticeships to be a success, according to industry figures.
In the comprehensive spending review, chancellor George Osborne announced the "largest ever financial investment" in these training schemes, with budgets increased by over 50 per cent from the previous government's plans.
This will create an additional 75,000 adult apprenticeships a year until 2014-15, he added.
A representative for the Federation of Master Builders said construction will need its fair share of these places to ensure it avoids a skills shortage in the future - but if smaller firms continue to struggle to stay afloat, they are unlikely to bring in trainee builders, plumbers and electricians.
"There needs to be more joined-up thinking so we can keep employers going, giving them the confidence to take on an apprentice," the spokesman added.
Cross-Industry Construction Apprenticeship Task Force chairman Geoff Lister agreed, saying around 130,000 jobs have already been lost in construction during 2010 and 3,000 existing trainees have been displaced.
