Meeting of the Parliament 13 May 2015
The focus for too long, across not just Scotland but also the United Kingdom, has been the view of some parents and educationists that the only path to a successful career or a good job prospect is the academic route via university.
Many job opportunities for trained craftsmen and women pay higher salaries than university graduates can expect. For instance, according to one recruitment website, bricklayers can expect to earn 50 per cent more than the average national wage.
Choosing a vocational career, and in particular deciding to be an apprentice, can bring instant benefits for many young people. They earn a salary and gain a recognised qualification while working, there is on-the-job training that provides real work experience, there is funding to help meet training costs, and for many it is a shorter route to a well-paid job than university would be.
The City of Edinburgh Council and the CITB organise construction career taster sessions to give potential candidates who are interested in construction careers the opportunity to come along and experience a real project, talk with apprentices and project managers, and experience a construction site. That is important because, as the economy improves, there is more and more demand for skilled individuals across the construction industry. Some of that demand will be met by people returning after the recession but, for workforce planning reasons, the sector needs apprentices.
It is not just in construction where there are apprenticeship opportunities. The Skills Development Scotland website highlights just some of the opportunities that are currently available in the Edinburgh area, ranging from the modern apprenticeship vacancies at Heriot-Watt University in my constituency for mechanical technicians to install, maintain and operate research equipment including instruments, electrical equipment and robotics, to landscape gardening and horticultural modern apprenticeships with a small company.
The briefing from Edinburgh College highlighted that it currently employs 148 modern apprenticeships across key sectors including engineering, hospitality, automotive, hairdressing, childcare, highways maintenance and security. The college has indicated that, next year, that number will increase, with up to a further 50 modern apprentices.
Edinburgh College works with employers and training providers to deliver apprenticeship training in additional areas including construction trades, care, business administration, accounting and sport and leisure, with more than 1,000 apprentices training there each year.
Over the past three years, the Scottish Government has delivered more than 77,000 modern apprenticeship opportunities, exceeding the set target of 25,000 each year. The Government has announced that that number will increase to 30,000 new modern apprenticeships by 2020. That is nearly double the number of modern apprenticeships that were in existence in 2007-08. In addition, the new opportunities will be focused on higher-level apprenticeships, which will equip even more of our young people with the skills that they need for the jobs of the future.
In order to attract young people to apprenticeships, we need to provide an incentive so that any decision that they make about employment is not coloured by short-term judgment—in other words, “How much am I going to get paid?” It surely cannot be right that somebody can hold down a job and be paid only £2.73 per hour. Despite the increase in the minimum wage for apprentices that was recently announced by the United Kingdom Government, apprentices are currently paid 72 per cent of the young person’s rate and 42 per cent of the adult minimum wage of £6.50. We already know that the adult minimum wage is inadequate, hence the calls for paying the living wage. How can it be acceptable to pay only £2.73 per hour to an apprentice?
The cabinet secretary has already called for the UK Government to bring payment for apprentices into line with the other bands of the national minimum wage. The apprentice rate was introduced on 1 October 2010 by the Conservative Government, reducing pay for those apprentices who previously would have been paid the higher young person’s rate. The Scottish Government has called for the devolution of the minimum wage, so that this place can set the level that helps our economy to grow.
Many companies pay higher wages to apprentices in order to retain them when they complete their training. It is in the organisation’s interests, having invested time and resources to train the apprentice, to meet their specific needs.
From my own experience, I am aware that many companies have for many decades trained apprentices and have generous pay scales in place. First-year apprentices are paid a third of the tradesman’s rate; second-year apprentices are paid a half; third-year apprentices are paid two thirds; and fourth-year apprentices are paid three quarters of a qualified tradesman’s rate. If we can set apprenticeship rates at similar levels in accordance with the best practice that already exists in many companies and organisations, young people and their parents will see the benefits of a vocational career.
Vocational education means that the young person is learning work-related practical skills and the knowledge that they need to understand how to use them. Many companies across the UK have signed up to the 5 per cent club charter, which encourages companies to employ 5 per cent of their workforce as apprentices and graduates. In national apprenticeship week next week, would it not be good for all small and medium-sized enterprises to aim for that target?
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