Listen
Funding for apprenticeships
17/08/2009
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Fiona Hyslop, today announced that she would provide funding for an extra 600 management Modern Apprenticeships.
Employers across the country will be able to receive Government support for these high value management posts. Recent evidence from Sector Skills Councils has highlighted the issue of management and leadership across many sectors, stating that support for management skills will help ensure companies can innovate and continue to take advantage of opportunities for growth even in the current economic climate.
The funding for the management Modern Apprenticeships is part of ScotAction - the Scottish Government's skills support package to help support Scotland's economy out of recession and back to economic growth.
Announcing the 600 extra places at the Macphie of Glenbervie Customer Centre in Stonehaven, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Fiona Hyslop said:
"This Government is committed to doing everything that we can to help people in this current economic climate and ScotAction is the Scottish Government's skills support package for providing real financial support to businesses and individuals through the recession.
"Apprentices are vital for Scotland's recovery. That is why the Scottish Government announced a huge increase in funding of £16 million for 7,800 new apprenticeships this year.
"Our whole economy has faced massive challenges over recent months. However, in order to ensure that our economy continues to be competitive in a global market over the next few years we need to invest now in people who can develop high level management and leadership skills.
"The action that this Government has taken to support Modern Apprenticeships demonstrates that where we have the powers, we can deliver for the people of Scotland - and deliver quickly."
The Cabinet Secretary also took the opportunity to formally invite entries for the Scottish Modern Apprenticeship Awards. The awards are open to apprentices, learning providers, colleges and employers who have contributed significantly to the development of the Modern Apprenticeship programme in Scotland. The 2009 Awards will showcase those who have, through their involvement in Modern Apprenticeships, demonstrated initiative, enterprise and outstanding commitment to the improvement of skills development for the Scottish economy.
The Scottish Government has announced much support for the Apprenticeship Programme over the last few months. £6 million has been made available to fund an additional 1,000 apprentices in Glasgow over the next 3 years to support the Commonwealth Games legacy, it has funded 50 apprentices in the Creative Sector and announced funding for 100 apprenticeships for Home Energy and Efficiency in partnership with Scottish and Southern Energy. It has also announced that a new apprenticeship framework for the Life Science industry has now been developed to support the growth of one of our key sectors in Scotland. In June the First Minister announced that the Government would fund 2 for 1 Life Science Apprenticeships. The Cabinet Secretary also announced the 'Adopt An Apprentice' scheme where employers can receive a helping hand of £2000 to employ a redundant apprentice and the Government has also introduced an additional 170 early years modern apprenticeships. Just last week the Cabinet Secretary announced funding for 2000 MAs for the retail sector.
Skills Development Scotland, Scotland's national skills agency, will play a leading role in taking forward the delivery of the initiatives that ScotAction will deliver for Scotland at this time.
ScotAction is an integrated package combining new and improved measures to help individuals and businesses through the recession and will provide skills assistance - including wage subsidies in some circumstances - for training for work, training in work and training from work to work to help Scottish people and businesses survive the downturn and thrive when the economy starts to recover.
The Scottish Government has made clear that it will be guaranteeing continued training for apprentices who lose their job due to the current downturn. The Scottish Government will be working with all the relevant organisations to ensure that everything possible is done to find alternative employment to enable them to complete their MA. Where that is not possible, the Scottish Government will ensure they are able to complete alternative, relevant training.
Now in their eigth year, the Scottish Modern Apprenticeship Awards are a celebration of the high standards being reached by many employees, employers and learning providers involved in Modern Apprenticeships.
This year, the award ceremony will take place on Wednesday December 9, 2009 at the Radisson Hotel, Glasgow. This will be an awards ceremony and dinner where each finalist will be a VIP guest and each winner will receive a specially designed awards trophy.
Skills Development Scotland are now accepting entries for nine categories:
- Apprentice of the Year - Traditional sector - aged 16-19
- Apprentice of the Year - Traditional sector - aged 20 or over
- Apprentice of the Year - Non Traditional sector - aged 16-19
- Apprentice of the Year - Non Traditional sector - aged 20 or over
- Small Employers - less than 50 employees
- Medium Employers - between 50 and 249 employees
- Large Employers - over 250 employees
- Partnership
- Learning Provider