Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Baroness Sharp of Guildford (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Monday, 14 January 2008.

Apprenticeships

Question: My Lords, is the Minister aware that there is excess demand for apprenticeships from young people and that not enough places are currently being provided by employers? What plans do the Government have to encourage employers to take on more apprentices?

Answer: My Lords, I know that some of the evidence about the extent of demand is anecdotal, but I personally, as I said in debate in response to the noble Lord, Lord Wakeham, last Monday, completely accept the credibility of the argument put by the noble Baroness. It is essential that the work that the CBI and other partners are doing to encourage more employers into the sphere is undertaken with great energy. At the moment, about 130,000 employers are engaged in the scheme. We believe that that number can be increased considerably. With the leadership of businesses such as Tesco and Rolls-Royce, which are putting in a good deal of effort, for which I commend them, into growing the number of employers, there are good prospects that we will increase those numbers considerably.

Secondary information