Official Report search · Parliament Workbench

Chamber

Plenary, 10 Jan 2008

10 Jan 2008 · S3 · Plenary

Item of business

Spending Review 2007

Park, John Lab Mid Scotland and Fife Watch on SPTV

Manufacturing is an issue but, as Mr Harvie knows, the Labour-led Executive created a number of modern apprenticeships in a number of different disciplines over the eight years for which it was in power. We should not forget that the most worrying factor is that this Government has no targets for modern apprenticeships.

If the Government thinks that 50,000 nondescript training places are a substitute for the 50,000 modern apprenticeships per year that Labour would have delivered, I suggest that it should read the Leitch report to find out what the real challenges are. Once the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning has read the Leitch report, if she still thinks that the provision of 50,000 training places compares well with the 7 million comparable places that are being rolled out across the rest of the UK, I suggest that she should go for a lie down in a darkened room. Frankly, zero targets for modern apprenticeships does not compare well with anything.

The fact that the Government has made no commitment, financial or otherwise, to increasing apprentice numbers sends out completely the wrong message to employers, who will think that it is okay not to train their own employees. Exasperated by the lack of opportunities, young Scots will give up looking for slots. Everyone is telling me—they must be telling the Government, as well—that the Government must provide leadership on modern apprenticeships.

For me, the most disappointing aspect of the SNP Government's behaviour, in a Parliament of minorities, is that it appears that it does not want to be seen to provide financial support specifically for modern apprenticeships because they are seen as a Labour Party priority, both here in Scotland and south of the border. In other words, its motivation is purely political.

Before the end of last year, in a parliamentary question to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, I asked what targets the Scottish Government would set for training modern apprentices. Her response was:

"We will not overburden Skills Development Scotland with volume based targets, as these in isolation can drive behaviour."—[Official Report, Written Answers, 4 December 2007; S3W-6985.]

I say to the cabinet secretary that the whole point of investing and setting targets in training is about changing behaviour. There is a lesson from the recent past on that issue. The last Tory Government cut Government funding for training and left workforce development to the free market. We are still paying the price for that approach, through skills shortages and a culture wherein training is seen as a cost rather than an investment by many businesses.

Over the past 10 years or so, significant progress has been made in encouraging employers to change course and recognise the importance of workforce development for performance, productivity and staff retention.

In conclusion, I am deeply concerned about the message that the Government is sending out with its budget priorities. It is giving business the clear message, "We're not setting any targets on apprenticeships, so you don't have to provide any apprentice places. By the way, here's a cut in your business rates—spend it as you like." Ironically, businesses will probably have to spend any future tax cuts that they get from the Government on staff wages in a few years' time, when skill shortages get even worse as a result of the Government's flawed policy on workplace training.

I assure the Parliament that I take no pleasure in making such points because, in reality, the long-term ability of our economy to help deliver social justice is being undermined by the budget, and I am sure that no member wants to see that.

Search Hansard contributions

Plenary, 10 Jan 2008

In the same item of business