Early day motion 2695

APPRENTICES AND PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

• Session: 2010-12
• Date tabled: 06.02.2012
• Primary sponsor: Halfon, Robert
• Sponsors:
  • Bottomley, Peter
  • McCrea, Dr William
  • Shannon, Jim
  • Simpson, David
  • Williams, Stephen

That this House believes that public procurement should be used to boost the number of British apprentices; notes that the Department forWork and Pensions' (DWP) new Apprenticeship and Skills Requirements Contract Schedule, published in July 2011, has successfully encouraged contractors to hire more than 2,000 apprentices in the Department's supply chain, on a voluntary basis and that a similar scheme has been successful in Essex County Council; estimates that if this were rolled out across the wider public sector it would instantly create 120,000 new apprenticeships at little or no cost to the taxpayer; further estimates that if the normal ratio of these apprenticeship places went to young people, youth unemployment would be cut by seven per cent.; and therefore urges every Government department to bring in similar contracts to those of the DWP and to give thousands more young Britons a fighting chance of a job, a qualification and a decent wage.