Tories demand 10,000 more apprenticeships – Daily Business

SNP ministers are being urged to increase the number of modern apprenticeship places by almost 10,000 to boost economic growth, create jobs and allow businesses to expand.

The Scottish Conservatives will lead a debate at Holyrood on Wednesday claiming damage has been done to the economy by the government’s 20% real-terms cut to college funding.

They will also call for the number of modern apprenticeship places to rise from the current 25,507 per year, to at least 34,000, which business groups say is needed.

Shadow business and economy secretary Murdo Fraser will claim there has been a failure “to invest in the training and skills essential for future prosperity”.

Mr Fraser will point to “a huge black hole in welfare spending and a deficit twice the size of the rest of the UK… while Scots pay the highest income tax in the UK and see key services crumbling.”

He adds: “But their neglect of skills and training is shoring up even worse to come. The SNP are holding Scotland back by creating a hostile environment for business, which is jeopardising growth, jobs and prosperity.

“Our plans to increase the number of apprenticeships to the level business says is needed would provide a sound foundation that would put growth front and centre.”

In August Scottish Labour MP Gregor Poynton said SNP manifestos since 2016 promised to boost annual Modern Apprenticeship starts to 30,000. Instead, the number of young people starting apprenticeships had fallen.

“Even worse, SNP ministers have raided up to £150 million from the apprenticeship budget over the last five years to plug holes elsewhere,” he said. “That’s money stolen from young people’s futures.”

The SNP has said its Youth Guarantee is designed to ensure that every young person aged between 16 and 24 in Scotland has the opportunity, based on their own personal circumstances and ambitions, to go to university or college, get a place on an apprenticeship, training or work experience programme, secure a job or participate in a formal volunteering programme.