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Industry welcomes £200m government apprentice strategy

Industry figures have given a cautious welcome to the government's plan to divert £200m to fund apprenticeship places and establish a fund for college building programmes.

The money will be redirected from the Train to Gain budget for 50,000 apprenticeship places that will continue to be administered by the Skills Funding Agency.

David Workman, director general at the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI), said that the announcement appeared to be good news for the sector.

"We have to look at what skills are needed and what gaps there are. Also we have to look at best practice elsewhere. Germany has a very good apprenticeship system."

Workman added: "Paper companies are prepared to put the time into training but the funding isn’t always available. It’s vital to the future of the industry that these schemes are in place."

Vocational schools
Dick Searle, chief executive at the Packaging Federation, said that the announcement was "very good news" and urged the government to carefully consider the kind of colleges that would come out of the investment.

"In Turkey, for example, they have vocational schools," he said. "It would be good if the government could look at that model."

However Searle added that the £200m fund for 50,000 places would work out at £4,000 per apprentice.

He warned that this amount may not convince companies to take on apprentices over the course of a few years.

"The government needs to look beyond training and to the greater needs of the manufacturing sector," he added.