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Work and Skills

I thank my hon. Friend for making that point. As I said, it is important to ensure that skills programmes address the 7 per cent. who have no qualifications at all, particularly in an area such as the south-east, which has certain advantages and where there is a lot of top-end loading on the skills side. The break-up of the Learning and Skills Council and the establishment of local strategic partnerships offers hope that resources can be focused on local priorities. As hon. Members have said, it is crucial that local business plays an important part of any such partnership. Personally, I think that it is useful if those partnerships are led by businesses providing practical input right from the top. However, participating businesses are concerned that they will, in any case, ultimately fall foul of Government micro-management of the whole process. There are four main concerns. First, the market is too complex and confusing for those seeking training and for employers. Secondly, Train to Gain is poorly understood. Thirdly, there are fears that the demise of the LSC will lead to a multiplicity of quangos and further complications in the market. Fourthly, there are practical concerns about diplomas and the relationships to other legislation. The stories about building trade students not being allowed on to building sites until the age of 16 for health and safety reasons are not apocryphal. Training should not be theoretical in these circumstances; it should be practically based and experienced on site. A number of hon. Members have mentioned the need for more apprenticeships. There is huge enthusiasm for apprenticeships, and it runs very wide. My own county council, of which I am still a member, has some 50 apprentices in fields from social care to civil engineering. Large companies in the area are enthusiastic about apprenticeships, but so too are local small and medium-sized businesses. When I recently visited Henley college, which provides training in these areas, people were effusive in their praise for the commitment of small and medium-sized enterprises to training and employment, not only in providing apprenticeships but beyond apprenticeships. I urge the Government to consider introducing further flexibility in this context.