Mike Hedges Asks Finance Cabinet Member about the
impact of Apprenticeship Levy and praises Welsh Further Education Colleges
Speaking after the Senedd on Wednesday, Swansea East AM Mike
Hedges said…. ‘I wanted to make the point that the UK Governments scheme has
fallen well short of its own publicity while Further Education colleges are
making big contributions to the process of getting people ready for employment.
These local institutions deserve a lot of credit for the work they are undertaking
in our local communities. I have met people in my constituency who are now
working because of the support and encouragement while undergoing
apprenticeship training in FE colleges in Swansea. They speak very highly of
the local FE Colleges and I endorse their views.’
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Mike Hedges AM - Would the
Cabinet Secretary agree with me that the UK Government's much-vaunted
apprenticeship levy has now been exposed for what it is: nothing more than a
tax on employers, which has done little to improve access to apprenticeships?
Will he also agree that the further education colleges in Wales are doing a
phenomenally good job in training apprentices to the benefit of our country?67
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Mark Drakeford AM - Well,
of course Mike Hedges is right, Llywydd. The apprenticeship levy is simply a
tax, in any other name, and a very badly designed tax, and a tax that is
friendless, as far as I can see, amongst the nations of the United Kingdom and
amongst employers as well. It was a botched job from the start. There was no
prior discussion with Scotland or Wales. We could have helped the then
Chancellor of the Exchequer to do a better job of it had he simply allowed us,
as the statement of funding policy required, to be part of the design of what
he was intending to achieve.68
I certainly agree with
Mike Hedges that further education colleges in Wales do an excellent job in
responding to local economic needs, in matching young people with careers that
they will be able to develop over the long term. I've recently myself met with
apprentices at Airbus and in Tata in south Wales, and they all had really
impressive stories to tell of the support that they have received from major
employers in Wales, and how that has been matched by a genuinely responsive
approach by their local education authorities and the further education
colleges on which they rely.
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