APPRENTICESHIPS will play an important part in the Oxfordshire construction industry in the short term, according to Matthew Hancock, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Energy.
He said: “There are 22,000 people needed in construction in Oxfordshire in the next couple of years.
“I want local young people to have the chance to get those jobs that are going to be available.”
Mr Hancock was speaking on Monday at an event held by ACE Training, in Kidlington, to mark the start of National Apprenticeship Week.
Our top stories
A group of young women on hairdressing apprenticeships tried their hand at laying bricks and mortar under the watchful eye of some young male construction apprentices, as well as the minister.
Hairdressers try their hands at bricklaying.
The roles reversed later that day when the lads tested their skills in the salon. The aim was to highlight the small proportion of women in trades occupations, estimated to be as low as two per cent.
Mr Hancock said: “It’s a great initiative, breaking down those stereotypes.”
Nicola Blackwood, Conservative MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, said: “We shouldn’t be stereotyping the kind of skills which are appropriate for women to go into or men to go into.
“Women should be taking up engineering apprenticeships, and men should be thinking about perhaps doing hairdressing apprenticeships.”
To increase the apprenticeships incentive, Mr Hancock said, the Government was considering whether to increase the national minimum wage for apprentices of £2.73 an hour.
He added: “We’re looking now whether to align it with the main youth rate, which is just under a pound more.”
It’s a hot topic. Members of Oxford City Council’s scrutiny committee are investigating whether apprentices should be paid a living wage while training.
Mr Hancock said the present Government wanted to raise the number of apprenticeships in the UK from two million in this parliament to three million in the next Parliament, adding: “An apprenticeship increases your lifetime earnings significantly on average.”
Kelly Luckett, 17, of Southmoor, an apprentice with Wootton salon Head to Toe, said: “It’s fun being able to swap roles for the day.
“The boys made the bricklaying look easy, but trying to make the line of bricks straight is hard.
Maybe putting on the right amount of cement is the same as having to put the right amount of hair colour on.”
Adrian Lockwood, of Oxfordshire Skills Board, said there was “a serious message behind the apprentice swap, which is that we are trying to bring training more in line with what is need in the labour market and get better engagement with the schools.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here