BESA (the Building Engineering Services Association) says that criticisms of the Government's plans to boost apprenticeships are failing to see the big picture.
The Government has said that just 2% of employers will pay into the Apprenticeship Levy – those with payrolls above £3m– and that the remaining 98% will receive 90% of the cost of training an apprentice.
A report published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) claims that the target of delivering 3 million new apprenticeships by 2020 could be "poor value for money." It suggested that not all of the £2.8million raised by the end of the decade would be spent on apprenticeships and they questioned the quality of the training that would be delivered.
These claims have been condemned by several organisations and the Department of Education said that standards would be "rigorously checked"
BESA added that apprenticeships were an essential part of the strategy to tackle the country's crippling skills gap in vital economic sectors like engineering and construction – and, therefore, the return on investment would be realised over time.
Chief executive of BESA, Paul McLaughlin, said: "A vocational apprenticeship is just the first step on the journey to a fulfilling career. We are working closely with employers in our sector to develop and deliver apprenticeships at all levels – from initial technician grades right up to degree equivalence." He added: "We see the new apprenticeship programme as a way of creating career paths that will deliver value for money at each stage and for years to come."
