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By announcing the extension of the apprenticeship scheme to
14- and 15-year-olds, the Government is hoping to press
home the message that its big-picture approach to the skills
crisis is heading in the right direction. Despite
initiatives such as the apprenticeship scheme and Employer Training
Pilots, and the creation of Britain's biggest quango, the Learning
and Skills Council (LSC), charged with £8.6billion of public
money, employers say that the improvements have been marginal,
at best.
In a recent survey of employers by the British Chambers of
Commerce (BCC), 36pc of respondents identified a shortage of
skilled workers as a barrier to productivity. Isabella Moore,
president of the BCC, said that while employers were enthusiastic
about a co-ordinated strategy to tackle the skills shortage,
there were deep-rooted problems in the way the strategy was being
implemented.
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