Agenda item

Apprenticeships

It was moved by Councillor Colin Ross, seconded by Councillor Andrew Sangar, that this Council:-

(a)       believes that apprenticeships are one of the best ways to support young people in long-term careers;

(b)       is proud that Liberal Democrats have campaigned for better apprenticeships in Government and highlights that one of the first acts of this Government was to increase spending on apprenticeships by £250 million – a 50% increase on the previous Government’s commitments;

(c)        notes that under this Government the number of people starting apprenticeships in Sheffield has increased by 54%;

(d)       welcomes the latest announcements set out in the Budget, which will help to create another 100,000 apprenticeships, including the extension of the Apprenticeship Grants for Employers scheme;

(e)       is pleased that a radical apprenticeship programme forms part of the Sheffield City Deal pioneered by Nick Clegg MP and welcomes the further allocation of £5 million to support apprenticeships in Sheffield City Region through the Youth Contract;

(f)        expresses extreme concern at the Labour Party policy review paper which argued that Intermediate Apprenticeships (level two) are ‘of no value to either employers or learners’, and also claimed scrapping them ‘would minimise deadweight’;

(g)       notes that 3,200 young people in Sheffield are on level two apprenticeships and is appalled that Labour Party documents have branded these ‘deadweight’;

(h)       fears that under a Labour Government level two apprenticeships could be scrapped, resulting in the loss of almost 60% of apprenticeships in Sheffield; and

(i)         is committed to supporting young people into work, underlines the importance of apprenticeships and calls on Labour politicians to apologise for these crass and uninformed comments.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Leigh Bramall, seconded by Councillor Chris Rosling-Josephs, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of paragraphs (b) to (i) and the addition of new paragraphs (b) to (j) as follows:-

 (b)      therefore welcomes the record of the present Administration in ensuring that Sheffield has the best record of apprenticeships of all the Core Cities and notes recent figures for the Core Cities are as follows:

•           Sheffield                   7.8%

•           Liverpool                   5.6%

•           Nottingham               5.2%

•           Leeds                         5.0%

•           Bristol                        4.9%

•           Newcastle                 3.5%

•           Manchester              2.5%

•           Birmingham              2.4%

(c)        believes that the commitment to apprenticeships made by the present Administration has played a significant role in helping to achieve this success with policies such as:

(i)        a One Hundred Apprenticeship Programme for young people furthest from the jobs market which has now operated successfully for three years;

(ii)       a locally developed Skills Made Easy apprenticeship programme, which this Council played a key role in designing, that seeks to create 4000 additional apprenticeships across the Sheffield City Region and uniquely puts the purchasing power for skills in the hands of business, thereby meeting the needs of the local economy, young people and the business community far better than national programmes;

(iii)     the RISE graduate internship programme, which encourages small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to take on graduates; and

(iv)    piloting a recent hugely successful Employment and Skills event that has matched young people with real jobs and advice on apprenticeships and other training offers;

(d)       recalls that when the present Administration first introduced the Sheffield Apprenticeship Programme, the former Leader of the Council publically criticised the scheme in a local business magazine;

(e)       remembers the previous Administration’s appalling record at tackling youth unemployment and particularly the broken promise made by the previous Leader of the Council who publically pledged to commit £1 million of Council funding to the previous Government’s Future Jobs Fund, only to scrap this commitment; 

(f)        reiterates its opposition to the Liberal Democrat complicity in abolishing the previous Government’s Future Jobs Fund;

(g)       notes with interest the article on the respected Channel 4 Fact Check Website entitled “Factcheck: Lib Dem spin out of control on apprenticeships”;

(h)       notes that the Factcheck article states “There is no suggestion in the paper that a Labour government should scrap the funding for people who want to do the equivalent of an intermediate qualification. This would simply be an exercise in rebranding.

            It also specifically says a Labour government should not do what is set out in that Lib Dem bar chart and just axe the intermediate apprenticeship overnight.

            The report states: ‘These measures would inevitably lead to a dramatic fall in apprenticeship numbers if introduced suddenly. Employers and providers should therefore be given time to improve the quality of their apprenticeships over an agreed period.’”;

(i)         is appalled at Liberal Democrat attempts to scaremonger and notes that the Factcheck article states “Another piece of mischief here is the use of the word “deadweight” in the press release, as though Labour are saying the people doing those apprenticeships are a weight dragging on society. In policy circles, deadweight or “additionality” is simply a technical term for ‘what would have happened anyway if we had done nothing’.”; and

(j)         believes that the motion is attempting to mislead the Council, for which the mover of the motion should apologise, and furthermore, that the main opposition group are equally as untrustworthy as the Leader of the Liberal Democrat Party and considers that this is just a latest example of what the Deputy Prime Minister meant when he said “read the small print” when trying to explain Liberal Democrat literature.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Joe Otten, seconded by Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the re-lettering of paragraphs (h) and (i) as new paragraphs (i) and (j) and the addition of a new paragraph (h) as follows:-

(h)       furthermore, notes that 90% of young people that passed through the Sheffield Apprenticeship Programme completed Level 2 qualifications and regrets that a Labour policy review is in effect rubbishing this important local scheme;

On being put to the vote the amendment was negatived.

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-