Part of Education and Skills Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 1:15 pm ar 7 Chwefror 2008.
I am grateful to the Minister. That is helpful, but it does not entirely deal with the issue about what constitutes guided learning hours. I am pleased that apprenticeships themselves are not included, but Lorna Unwin’s work deals with training in a broader sense. I referred in particular to apprenticeships, but her work deals with all kinds of training. National vocational qualifications are part of that package. I suspect that many of the young we are dealing with, who are some of the most disadvantaged and challenging of young people, will first find themselves in pre-apprenticeship training. That might include a range of NVQ options because to get on to a full apprenticeship without that training will simply not be possible because of their competences. I take the Minister’s point, but it is not an entire answer to the argument advanced by Professor Unwin.
Professor Unwin argues that many employers are providing perfectly acceptable work placements, but are not necessarily engaged in substantive training. It will therefore be for the Minister to explain to the Committee how the Government will judge what constitutes guided learning hours. The phrase “guided learning hours” suggests training that is directed and mentored, be it at apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship or sub-apprenticeship level. Surely all training should involve systematic workplace training under a skilled mentor. The experience of the trainee in the workplace should not simply be a work placement. We cannot just put people into workplaces and assume that that includes, implicitly, a level of training. I wish the Minister would enlighten the Committee on how the Government will ensure that this aspect of the Bill is effected in a way that benefits both employers and, more especially in this context, trainees.