Halcro Johnston welcomes First Minister’s commitment on small business apprenticeships
Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston has secured a commitment from the First Minister to examine new ways to expand the uptake of apprentices among small businesses.
In National Apprenticeship Week, Mr Halcro Johnston highlighted a recent report by the Federation of Small Businesses which showed that Scotland lagged behind other parts of the UK in involving small businesses in the expansion of apprentices. FSB Scotland figures showed that only 12 per cent of small businesses in Scotland currently employ an apprentice compared to 24 per cent in England.
It comes in the same week that Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson called for foundation apprenticeships, providing work-based learning opportunities to older school pupils, to be in place in every school in Scotland by 2020.
Jamie Halcro Johnston said:
“Modern apprenticeships are a great part of providing work-based skills. As part of Apprenticeship Week, many MSPs will have been out around their constituencies, seeing first-hand the achievements of Scotland’s thousands of apprentices.
“For too long, vocational education has been seen as the poor relation of university, but increasingly it is a gateway to opportunity for young people. There are some great careers in vital areas like science, technology and engineering that people are entering through apprenticeships.
“These opportunities need to be made available across the country, including in the Highlands and Islands, and I also want to see Foundation Apprenticeships offered in every school. This is something Ruth Davidson recently called for and it’s crucial that local students don’t miss out.
“We need to create more of these opportunities here in Scotland – and it is welcome that the First Minister has agreed that more needs to be done to get smaller businesses involved. We have lagged behind the rest of the UK, but I will be looking in the coming years to ensure that we do all we can to make Scotland a great place for learning work-based skills that are aligned with our future economy.”