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Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

My Lords, we on these Benches support the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Layard. I think he put "under 19" in the amendment because it is important that we increase the number of apprenticeships among 16 and 17 year-olds. I believe that currently only 3.8 per cent of all 16 year-olds and 6.3 per cent of 17 year-olds are on level 2 or level 3 apprenticeship in England. There is a precedent for what the noble Lord is suggesting. A recent report by the CfBT Education Trust called Lessons from History: Increasing the Number of 16 and 17 Year Olds in Education and Training points out that offering wage subsidies to encourage employers to take on young apprentices during a recession actually works. Between 1979 and 1983 the Training for Skills programme helped 57,000 16 to 18 year-olds to obtain an employer-based apprenticeship. It is clear from this that it can and should be done if we are to achieve what I think the whole House wants to achieve. We hope that the Government will look kindly on the noble Lord’s amendment.