Fall in construction apprenticeship starts

The latest statistics from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) reveal that there were just 24,000 apprenticeship starts in construction, planning and the built environment in 2011-12, a decline of 14.6% on the previous year.

The news was described by construction union UCATT as “devastating”, particularly as a report by the Construction Skills Network in January 2013 found that the industry still requires 29,050 new entrants every year to replace workers who leave the sector. It also said that when the construction industry begins to recover that numbers will increase dramatically.

The fall in construction apprenticeships comes shortly after the government rejected proposals made by MPs on the House of Commons select committee on business, innovations and skills that public sector procurement contracts should require all companies bidding for such work to train apprentices. The committee wanted an extra apprentice place for every £1 million spent. In discounting the proposal, the government claimed that apprentice requirements must be “flexible and proportionate … and must not be overly prescriptive.”

UCATT general secretary Steve Murphy said: “The latest figures for apprenticeships in the construction industry are devastating; the failure to train sufficient numbers of highly skilled workers will create long-term problems for the industry.

“The short term mindset of much of the construction industry leads to a failure to invest in apprentices.”