Debate contribution: Apprenticeships

Debate contribution by Mr David Honeyford on 5 March 2024.

MLA

Mr David Honeyford

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

5 March 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Apprenticeships

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4252961

Read the official Assembly record

Text

No problem. Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. I declare an interest as a shareholder in a business that has apprentices. I thank the Minister for being here, and I thank everybody for their contribution. I was going to name everybody, but — I echo the Minister's comments — we are all in agreement, and we have had a really good discussion, which is brilliant. I support the motion and our Alliance amendment. We in Alliance want to see major change in and reform of our skills delivery, and we want people of all ages to be given the opportunity to be better and to grow, which will then enable our economy to grow. To do that, we need to help more employers to engage with the apprenticeship and skills programme. Recent figures show that only 8% of businesses offer apprenticeships. The number of businesses wanting to expand in that area is four times that figure. We need fundamental structural change to be able to deliver that, and we need a dedicated skills fund to help expand the apprenticeship provision. Working to help more employers is one practical example of how we can get on a path to delivery. Transformation of apprenticeships and our education system as a whole, rather than just the FE sector, which promotes apprenticeships and skills, is key. Alliance firmly believes that transforming our education system is key to our economy. The two cannot and should not be seen in isolation. You cannot have one without the other. Our historical model of educational need massively needs practical transformation. The attitude that we all have to apprenticeships and to that model was referenced a few times. Key to growing the economy is the value — I stress the word "value" — that we place on technical learning and apprenticeships, alongside every other route of higher academic education. One thing to note is that, in the South, they had regional technical colleges. Those have now been merged and transformed into five technological universities. However, we still rely on the same path. We do the same thing over and over and broadly get the same results year after year. There is a vital role for further education. We need to increase and grow what it offers and to strengthen links with our small businesses and industry to bring that change. Northern Ireland does not have such technical universities. I ask the Minister to investigate and look at that, because there is equal value in technical learning alongside the academic route. It is vital in the value piece of that learning's worth. In my business life, I have employed apprentices, and I declared that interest. I want to tell you about one of those apprentices and explain why we need to change.

He started late and changed courses. He went to a grammar school, and he was not accepted back after his GCSEs to do A levels. He was not offered any careers advice and was, frankly, dumped out by his school. He did not know what he wanted to do, and his mum basically insisted that he went to tech and enrolled on a course. He was on that course for a little while, and he dropped out because it was not what he wanted to do. He started to work for us for a bit, and he was just labouring. However, the condition that he came to work for us was that he got himself onto an apprenticeship at the next opportunity. He was about 19 when he started that apprenticeship. He had been there for a few months, and I will never forget how, after Christmas and the new year, I asked him how he was getting on. He was with us for so many days per week and then at the tech for two. I will never forget what he said. This kid went to grammar school, and he said, "I've passed my first test". He said that that was the first time he had passed an exam since the 11-plus. That was appalling. That kid was bright. He was a great worker. He was a reliable employee who ended up working for us for six years, but it was not until that point that he felt he was of any worth. He has gone on to have a really good career.

I am sorry, but an education system that works for only the most academic, where careers advice — this is my experience as a parent — is simply a UCAS form-filling advice centre, needs to be reformed. I appreciate that what I am saying branches between two Ministries, but the issues need to be sorted out with both. I echo the call on the Minister to set ambitious targets for increasing Northern Ireland's apprenticeship offering that is within his control. Our aim must be to create opportunities for everyone to excel, with much more diversity and opportunity for all ages, providing a skilled workforce and using greater apprenticeship opportunities that give us the ability to continue that learning journey.

844 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 09:50 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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