The Right Hon Lord Adonis
The Right Hon David Cameron MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street, SW1 26 July 2012
APPRENTICESHIPS IN WHITEHALL
I wonder if you might consider a suggestion to set up, as a matter of urgency, a pan-Whitehall “government administration” apprenticeship scheme for 16 and 18 year-old school leavers?
I set out the arguments, and a proposal, for such a scheme in an article in the FT on July 14th, which I attach.
I suggest that at least 500 such apprentices should be recruited each year in a single Whitehall scheme, mirroring the prestigious graduate fast stream which also recruits about 500 (mostly young) graduates a year.
An apprenticeship scheme on these lines would be highly positive in its own right. It would train a cadre of young people in administrative tasks essential to effective government, complementing the existing recruitment of graduates.
However, there is a wider and very important purpose to this proposal. The government has got to start practising what it preaches. We cannot tell private sector employers that they should be recruiting apprentices systematically, in the face of high youth unemployment and an acute national skills shortage, when Whitehall itself does not do so. Indeed, there are hardly any staff under the age of 21 employed within central government departments, whether apprentices or not, mirroring a national situation which also needs to change radically.
This is not a partisan point. As I acknowledge in my FT article, the Department for Transport, for which I was responsible before the election, has no apprentices. It is a process of reflection on the causes of youth unemployment which has led me to appreciate why this needs to change and why the government needs to lead by example – and not in a grudging or half-hearted manner but boldly.
Just to provide a few more facts. PQ answers to me show that as at June 1st most Whitehall departments employed no apprentices whatever (excluding agencies and NDPBs). Those with no apprentices include the Home Office, the Foreign Office, the Department of Health, CLG, DWP, DCMS, DfT and DfID. Among the rest, the number of apprentices employed is tiny in almost all cases (1 in MOJ, 2 in DECC, 3 in DEFRA, 5 in the Treasury, 14 in the Cabinet Office, 19 in BIS).
So the challenge is clearly one of starting from scratch, to create a proper apprenticeship scheme in Whitehall, rather than scaling up current grossly inadequate initiatives.
I would be very happy to discuss this further.
With best wishes,
ANDREW ADONIS
This is spot on from the former Labour Minister. He’s right to admit, of course, that perhaps we didn’t do enough in government to make sure that the ‘administrative levers’ were pulled to secure more jobs and apprenticeships for young people. But still, as Adonis points out to Cameron, it is never too late for government to lead by example and tackle the scourge of youth unemployment. These proposals should be translated into an ambitious cross-Whitehall drive to invest in the young talent of the future. If these apprenticeships were to lead to a seamless transfer, for the brightest, to the long-standing Fast-Track stream for the civil service, our country would be all the more socially mobile and better off for it.
I think active support for the “young” should be applied up to mid twenties. The dispirited young adults two or three years after graduation unable to get real, long term meaningful jobs, are more at risk of despair than teenagers who can still feel ok about living with parents or relying on them for food, money to socialise or clothes. It is also worrying that apprentice can increasingly be used as a cover for cheapest possible labour. Whta would these basic admin workers in Whitehall move on and up towards?Should Labour condone this classification into low wage roles? I started a social work career thirty five years ago with an in-service training, on a low but real wage. Ratification in post after 6 months gave a wage increase and career progression. This may be a model to revisit.