§ Mr. Goldingasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) how many formal apprenticeships were available in the field of (a) telecommunications and (b) information technology, respectively in 1984; and how many it is estimated that there will be available in 1985;
(2) how many formal apprenticeships are expected to be available in 1985 in technical subjects;
(3) how many formal apprenticeships there were available in 1984 in (a) manufacturing and (b) other sectors; and how many of these were in technical occupations.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe information is not available.
With regard to the area of information technology, traditional apprenticeship is not the most common method 321W of skills training, although such skills are being incorporated into apprenticeship training programmes. Similarly, technical skills are more usually gained through full and part-time technical college courses leading, for example, to qualifications from the Business and Technical Education Council.
The number entering traditional apprenticeships will become increasingly irrelevant as a measure of the real level of skills training being undertaken by industry because of both the reform of existing training arrangements and the substantial provision of initial skills training now taking place under the youth training scheme.