Meeting of the Parliament 19 March 2014
The Public Audit Committee had a good meeting with the Auditor General for Scotland this morning on modern apprenticeships—I note that my committee colleague James Dornan is in the chamber. The Scottish Conservatives very much welcome the 25,700 modern apprentices and our commitment to training and education. Even if someone does not finish their apprenticeship, I think that three months, six months, a year or two years is better than nothing at all—although I would want them all to finish. The Auditor General made some very good points, and the Public Audit Committee will look into the matter further.
Jenny Marra made the point that fewer apprenticeships are now in the Scottish Government’s economic growth sectors, and I would like to see more apprenticeships in those sectors. Another important issue—one that I am sure, given her background in training and education, the minister will take on board—is the need for a review of training providers. We all know what our colleges do, but in the training sector there are a range of training providers, both private and charitable, and I would be pleased to see a review of them to make sure that they all offer a high standard of training.
As the Auditor General highlighted, the existing measures do not focus on long-term outcomes such as sustainable employment although that would be something constructive that we could learn from and which could improve apprenticeship training overall.