Responding to a statement from the Minister for Skills and Science on apprenticeships, Ifan Glyn, Director of FMB Cymru, said: The Welsh Labour Government committed to a 100,000 apprenticeship target over this Assembly term, which is a laudable ambition that recognises the need for more skilled workers in Wales.

What’s key about this ambitious figure is that quantity does not come at the cost of quality, which means providing proper funding for apprenticeships.

Unfortunately, the Welsh construction sector is in limbo over how much financial support there will be for training over the next five years, as the Welsh Government is still unclear about how much funding it will receive from Westminster as a result of the UK-wide apprenticeship levy.

Though this owes much to the manner in which the UK Government has imposed this new levy, there is urgent need for a commitment from Welsh Government that funding levels will at the very least be maintained, as the current situation is creating the kind of atmosphere which businesses hate most – one of uncertainty.”

Glyn concluded: “We need assurances from the Welsh Government that every penny that is received through the new apprenticeship levy is funnelled right back into funding training, so that we can secure the high quality apprenticeships that our industry needs.

SMEs are concerned that if the level of funding on offer from Westminster is less than anticipated, that the quality of training will be sacrificed in order to maintain numbers. This would be extremely short sighted – quality should always be absolutely paramount, lest we risk prolonging our skills crisis even further and inhibiting Welsh productivity in the longer term.

Given the size of the challenges we face in delivering our key housing and infrastructure targets, there is precious little margin for error when it comes to apprenticeship policy.”

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