Thursday 23rd September 2010 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Government must help the construction industry employ young apprentices if a skills gap is to be avoided in future years, warns the Cross-industry Construction Apprenticeship Task Force (CCATF) which is a cross-industry initiative designed to increase employer engagement in apprenticeship training.
Responding to the Business Secretary Vince Cable MP, promise to protect further education and skills training as far as possible from cuts in the aftermath of the Comprehensive Spending Review, Beatrice Orchard, CCATF Coordinator said:
"Despite impending spending cuts, the Government must make every effort to invest in practical training for young people who otherwise face a bleak future. The recession has already caused hundreds of thousands of job losses in construction and over 2,000 of the industry’s apprentices have been displaced. Public sector cuts are likely to cost even more jobs and exacerbate the systemic skills crisis in the industry."
Orchard added:
"The Government is demanding the successful and swift transition to a low-carbon economy, but to achieve this it must create an environment where training is as affordable as possible. The industry is now well aware of the business case for training the workers of tomorrow, but the initial cost of a new entrant trainee can be prohibitive. In order to build a sustainable skills base to ready to deliver the required changes to the built environment, the construction sector must not be overlooked in the Government’s commitments to training and apprenticeships.”
