ANDREW GWYNNE’S PRIVATE MEMBERS BILL

Listening to local MP Andrew Gwynne present his ‘Apprenticeship Bill’ to a depleted Parliament (There were approx a dozen MP’s out of 650 in attendance) it was interesting to hear the member for Reddish & Denton refer many times to the state of affairs regarding ‘youth unemployment’ and ‘apprenticeships’ in Tameside and specifically the introduction of arrangements concerning contracts awarded by local and central government departments; i.e. that it should include a pledge to provide skills training and apprenticeships, in order to gain those contracts. This, according to Mr Gwynne is an effort to offer more opportunities to permanent placements for the "low skill and low wage” sector.

Now on the face of it, and despite the fact that it may fall foul of existing EU legislation regarding discrimination, this may seem like a good idea, and he quoted the how these arrangements were already in place in Tameside with contractors like Carillion and New Charter.

In essence, the Bill, if passed, would require certain public procurement contracts costing over £1million, offered by public authorities to include a commitment by the successful contractor to provide apprenticeships and skills training to local unemployed youths.
To quote Andrew Gwynne, he announced, “Contractors and sub-contractors should be required to take a proportion of apprenticeships. After all, it is your taxpayers’ money that is paying for these public sector contractors.

“It would not cost the taxpayer a single penny extra.”

But, as usual when listening to Labour politicians and their understanding of simple arithmetic, they fail to factor-in all the relevant facts!
Hypothetically, let’s assume a Tameside company tendered for work to replace the entire HVAC system in a couple of local schools. 

Bearing in mind Tameside procurement procedure involves acquiring 3 quotes (Presumably so the work can be placed with the cheapest; if all the botch-up /patch-up repair work we hear about is anything to go by- i.e. The estimated £2.5million of repairs needed to save the council’s own 40year old office block) the winning contractor would also have to agree to take on a specific number of Tameside’s unemployed youth as ‘apprentices’ to work on the project.

Now obviously, (if the contractor has his wits about him) the payment of these extra wages will be included within the tender and therefore extra costs will be added to the final bill.
So ultimately, it’s down to who actually pays the bill? And yes, -you’ve guessed it; it’s us, the taxpayer, through the nose, through the council! 

Next, once these ‘apprentices’ have been set to the task, who will independently monitor the work/training of these ‘apprentice(s)? - Presumably, the person who signed the contract for the work to be undertaken from the council?

But, despite the added ‘red-tape’ that that would bring with it, it then begs the question; will that council person be qualified to monitor the progression of skill attainment/proficiency of an apprentice? A point I made in the previous story regarding the commissioning of advertising and crass choice of effective media.

Another pitfall in this Bill is the problem of what will happen to ‘the apprentice(s)’ when the work is completed?

Will the ‘apprentice(s)’ still be employed or will the contractor simply sever their employment?

During the debate, Mr Gwynne boasted several times of the examination achievements of the students from Denton Community College (It was known as Edgy, when I was a lad) saying that once again, year on year,  the schools examination results have continued to break yearly records. He even informed the assembled MP’s that his wife is not only a local councillor, but also the chair of the schools board of governors.

However in the next breath, he claimed that his constituency has some of the highest youth unemployment numbers in Greater Manchester! 

Surely, if the school is year on year constantly churning out the brightest students in Tameside, one would think that Tameside employers would be queuing-up to get them on board! (Rather begs the question whether these ‘exam results’ actually mean anything?) But let’s leave that subject for another day.

There is no doubt that good quality; properly-funded apprenticeships are crucial to the future of our economy, especially in everyday service skills, manufacturing and advanced technology, but whether this Bill in its current form is the answer, is questionable.

Perhaps if Andrew Gwynne should happen across this humble blog, he might like to enlighten us a little further and answer the points I’ve raised. – But I won’t hold my breath!

FOOTNOTE: Baring in mind that the MP has sighted New Charter as a glowing example of how his Bill is already working in Tameside; should he care to email me, I could take him to a property in which New Charter and their apprentices have just completed some remedial repairs and handed the property back ready for habitation! – I can promise you that if this remedial maintenance had been carried out by a ‘private firm’ – Watchdog would be all over it!