Government pledges to bust apprentice bureaucracy

Taking on apprentices is set to get easier for employers, after the Government promised to slash red tape.

The plans, announced by skills secretary John Denham, pledge to cut unnecessary demands at the earliest possible opportunity.

Among the requirements to be phased out are multiple inspection visits, monthly reporting and the storage of paperwork for up to six years.

Mr Denham is asking the organisations that deliver and assess the Government's apprenticeships programme to implement "bureaucracy-busting" changes. The organisations include the Learning and Skills Council and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, along with awarding bodies and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.

He said that the idea is to help small-to-medium enterprises, in addition to major national employers, take on more apprentices.

"Employers tell us that if we are to meet our ambitious aims to expand the number of apprenticeships, we need to cut the red tape around the programme," Mr Denham said.

"There is no reason why firms should have to deal with multiple copies of time-consuming paperwork, provide the same information to several different agencies, be expected to invoice [the] Government more often than is necessary, or have to undergo complex inspection requirements when they already have perfectly adequate systems of their own."

The Government's plans come two weeks after the Conservatives unveiled proposals to shake up the apprentice system.

IMAGE Paul Faith/PA Archive/PA Photos