Government announces reforms to elevate status of apprenticeship.
The government has announced that the term 鈥渁pprenticeship鈥� is to be protected by law to ensure they are recognised as a career path equal to higher education.
Nick Boles, skills minster, will protect the term through the Enterprise Bill announced in the Queen鈥檚 speech in May, allowing the government to take action when the term is misused to promote low quality courses.
Boles commented: 鈥淚f university graduates have their moment in the sun so should people who undertake apprenticeships. Businesses know their value so it鈥檚 high time they were recognised both by the public and in law as being equal to degrees.鈥�
The government has also said it is to 鈥渆nshrine in law鈥� its commitment to create 3 million apprenticeships by 2020 and public bodies, such as schools and hospitals, are to set targets to take on more apprentices.
Brian Berry, chief executive of the FMB, said: 鈥淎pprenticeships simply don鈥檛 have the status they deserve. The Government鈥檚 latest apprenticeship reforms are a positive step 鈥� in particular, giving legal protection to the term 鈥榓pprenticeship鈥� should help tackle its blatant misuse by some organisations in some sectors. High quality apprenticeships should be viewed by society just as favourably as university degrees and protecting the term from misuse will help ensure this is the case.鈥�
He added that the government though must 鈥済et better at driving apprenticeship training through public sector contracts,鈥� as nearly 40% of construction output derives from the public sector.
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