HC Deb 04 December 2003 vol 415 cc633-4
4. Joan Walley (Stoke-on-Trent North) (Lab)

What changes he plans to make in training provision for apprentice footballers. [141759]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Skills (Mr. Ivan Lewis)

Skills Active, the sector skills council for active leisure and learning, and the Learning and Skills Council are developing a modern apprenticeship framework in sporting excellence, which includes football. It is focused on aspiring professional athletes; it will cover their needs as sporting professionals, support their long-term career needs once their sporting career ends and offer a safety net for those athletes who are unsuccessful.

Ms Walley

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Much as we would like every trainee footballer to become a Stanley Matthews, David Beckham or Wayne Rooney, something like 85 per cent. of trainee footballers fall out of the game over three to four years. Will my hon. Friend assure the House that he will meet again with the Professional Footballers Association to make sure that the two-year apprenticeship scheme proposed by the Learning and Skills Council will meet all the academic needs of footballers? We need to make sure that those who do not make it are able to pursue education and training for other careers, which may not be in football or even in sport.

Mr. Lewis

As a Manchester City supporter, I do not want young people to aspire to be David Beckham, but I am aware of the concerns expressed by some in football at the proposed changes and the timetable for implementation. Earlier this week, my hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall (Kate Hoey) and I met representatives of the Professional Footballers Association and the chief executive of SkillsActive. I have asked them to convene a further meeting with representatives of football, including the premier league, to discuss the best way forward. It is essential that every effort he made to ensure that the new modern apprenticeship properly meets the needs of young people embarking on a career in the professional game. This issue is of equal importance to big clubs such as Manchester City and to smaller clubs such as Port Vale and Norwich City.

Mr. Patrick McLoughlin (West Derbyshire) (Con)

Bearing in mind the considerable wealth that some of these young footballers could earn in later life, should they not pay top-up fees?

Mr. Lewis

The main thing about the ability of young people to enter football as a career is the fact that they pay no up-front fees at all.