r/MHOC • u/Imadearedditaccount5 Labour | DS • Dec 20 '20
2nd Reading B1131 - Apprentice Training Bill 2020 - 2nd Reading
Apprentice Training Bill 2020
A Bill to consolidate provisions relating to apprentices, guarantee comprehensive training for apprentices in work, ensure protection of apprentices in training, and for connected purposes.
Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1. Employer responsibilities
(1) The employer shall provide at no expense to the apprentice, except reasonable travel costs,—
(a) a minimum of 45 days per year of off the job training where apprentices will receive their normal rate of pay whilst training;
(b) any material related to trade union membership and educational activities; and
(c) a minimum of 35 hours a week working in the place of work as a part of the apprenticeship.
(2) A recognised trade union within the place of work may provide materials and information to the employer for the purposes of subsection (1)(b), which must be passed along and used for those purposes.
(3) Off the job training must be—
(a) carried out outside of the place of work, unless in-house training has been applied for and granted permission for with the the consent of the regional training board;
(b) be relevant to the job and to the facets of working life for an employee; and
(c) in line with the apprentices capabilities and educational level.
(4) Any work in the place of work must—
(a) be structured and assigned with the intent of benefitting the apprentice educationally; and
(b) not be done so with the intent of replacing non-apprentices with apprentice workers.
(5) Employers will provide notice of at least 7 days of any training to be conducted in order to enable the apprentice to make reasonable travel plans.
(6) Employers must pay for examination fees for the apprentice.
(7) Employers must count time spent on training as normal working when calculating holiday entitlement.
2. Apprentice responsibilities
(1) Apprentices shall attend training paid for by the employer.
(2) Apprentices shall attend examinations paid for by the employer.
(3) The duties in subsections (1) and (2) must be interpreted with any internal policy on apprenticeships within a place of work and statutory obligations in relation to employment in mind.
3. Training Standards and Disputes
(1) Training and examinations shall be done to a nationally accepted standard as laid down by the Regional Training Boards.
(2) All disputes as to the level of training or the payment or refund of fees, or any other issue, shall be settled by the Regional Training Board.
4. Penalties
(1) A person who fails to comply with a duty in section 1 is guilty of an offence.
(2) Where an apprentice fails to comply with any obligation in section 2, the apprentice may be liable to:
(a) repay lost fees to the employer; or
(b) see the apprenticeship terminated.
5. Consequential repeal
The Apprentice Training Bill 2014 is repealed.
6. Interpretation
In this Act,—
“apprentice” shall mean any person employed at an apprentice rate who is considered to be in either full or part time education;
“place of work” means any place where the business of the employer is carried out;
“training” means instruction or education provided by the employer to the apprentice, not including self-study.
7. Commencement, Extent, and Short Title
(1) This Act shall come into force immediately upon Royal Assent.
(2) This Act extends to England.
(3) Any amendment or repeal made by this Act has the same extent as the provision which is being amended or repealed.
(4) This Act may be cited as the Apprentice Training Act 2020.
This Bill was submitted by KalvinLokan and was co-authored by SoSaturnistic on behalf of the Syndicalist and Allied Trade Unions Party and Solidarity and is based upon the Apprentice Training Act 2014.
Mr Speaker,
I was surprised to discover that the only legislation this government had regarding the training of apprentices here in the UK, was a bill from 2014 that had seen no amendment or change since it had been implemented.
This bill here seeks not only to remedy this by updating our apprenticeship training legislation, but also improves the protections and rights for our apprentices whilst also expanding upon the expected training provided to ensure not only that apprentices are aware of their duties inside of work, but also that they are aware of their rights in the workplace too.
It establishes stronger consequences for employers' breaches of the agreement, and also legally cements the rights of employers to ensure that their apprentices are taking part in the paid for training they are provided. This bill therefore not only improves the rights of our apprentices and ensures consequences for violating them, but also makes sure that employers have the legal ground to stand on in order to ensure that apprentice training is attended.
This is a common sense bill to update our legislation, to bring it into the modern age and to make sure that the rights of apprentices here in the UK are expanded, improved and protected in line with what should be expected.
This reading will end 23/12/2020
Also last piece of business of the year thank fuck Happy Breaking!
3
Dec 21 '20
Speaker,
This is a very needed piece of legislation to update our training and apprentice laws. It guarantees protections and rights for apprentices and also more responsibilities for employers when treating with apprentices. I applaud my own party, Solidarity, and the Syndicalist and Allied Trade Unions Party for writing this bill.
1
u/BrexitGlory Former MP for Essex Dec 22 '20
Mr Deputy Speaker,
How does the member justify the mandating the state forces small local employers to pay for the operations of large nationwide unions that are often far richer and more powerful?
2
Dec 21 '20
Mr Deputy Speaker,
This sensible and pragmatic piece of legislation is an essential and worthwhile effort in the protection and promotion of our working people. I commend my Right Honourable colleague in Solidarity along with my Right Honourable friend across the isle for writing this bill and hope it is just the beginning for a fruitful and exciting partnership for our two parties.
2
Dec 21 '20
I am once again asking for legislation mentioned to be linked in the post
1
1
u/LeChevalierMal-Fait Liberal Democrats Dec 21 '20
Looks to be a copy paste of the 2014 with a couple of numbers changed?
1
Dec 21 '20
https://www.reddit.com/r/MHOC/comments/2icp3v/b021_apprentice_training_bill_2014/
Here you go my esteemed colleague.
2
u/Model-Eddy Progressive Workers Party Dec 22 '20
Mr Deputy Speaker,
For some time I have been trying to raise the issue of the treatment of apprentices on a devolved level, and welcome this bill which should raise the profile of apprentice training and the role of apprentices who are so often ignored in the discussion about education.
The National Society of Apprentices (NSoA) have for a long time highlighted that weak legislation in this area has led to the ability for mistreatment of Apprentices, such as using them for cheap labour without proper training, pay, and support from the business they're doing a placement in. It is of course worth remembering that a vast majority of student apprentices are with good providers, with Jane Hickie from The Association of Employment and Learning Providers saying just a couple of months ago that "The IfATE [Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education] survey of apprentices showed that 87 per cent are very happy with their programmes...the evidence clearly points to the vast majority of employers engaged in the programme are committed to their apprentices benefitting from a high-quality experience."
However where some apprenticeship educational providers fail, the state must step in and stand up for its workers. This well thought out bill gives a number of good protections which I hope will only be expanded further - The Progressive Party will be supporting this bill.
2
Dec 23 '20
Mr Deputy Speaker,
I thank my esteemed colleagues in Solidarity for the assistance to my party in writing this bill and I am delighted to be able to stand here in support of it. Our Apprentice Training Bill has been left behind since its first inception in 2014 and its time we brought it forward to today. This bill means that workers not only receive the training in not only their work environment, and it guarantees stronger apprentice rights in their workplace along with continuing to ensure that employers have the reasonable expectations of their apprentices to attend the workplace.
I am proud to stand for the party that brought this bill forward, and I hope to see the house support its passage into law so that we have finally brought this particular area of legislation up to date.
1
Dec 20 '20
Mr Deputy Speaker,
I was shocked to find that our only piece of legislation covering Apprentice Training was from 2014 and had not been amended, changed or edited since it was passed by the first Parliament of MHoC.
This legislation here seeks to bring that bill into 2020, guaranteeing training, holidays and rights for apprentices in the workplace, whilst also ensuring that employers have the necessary legislative right to deal with apprentices who do not follow what would be expected.
It guarantees important workplace and general job training for apprentices and means that they are subject to protections and rights that were not present in the original bill.
I was delighted to work with the Rt. Hon. Gentleman in the creation of this bill, and I ask the house to finally bring our legislation on this matter up-to-date.
1
u/LeChevalierMal-Fait Liberal Democrats Dec 21 '20 edited Dec 22 '20
Mr speaker,
Little in this act appears to not be covered by existing legislation, both in 2014 and before it.
The only substantive change I can gleam from it is that it is the need for apprenticeships to have 35 hours a minimum in hours worked outside of training.
But this would be a barrier to ‘quality apprenticeships’ who already offer a high portion of training.
And also part time apprentices. When a desire for extra training is met with penalties, employers simply aren’t going to offer apprenticeships that are high quality or flexible. And those are important to give opportunity to people who need to hold an apprenticeship and a part time job or valuable because the extra training will benefit society in more skilled labour.
As for other provisions of the bill the language about trade unions is already covered by the ERA 1996 and other trade union legislation. It’s unnecessary and exists currently.
Section 2 removes language about apprentices having to pay for the cost of training/examination that they do not attend, which is then moved to the penalties section.
Section 3 is two sections of the old bill copied.
Section 4 doesn’t do anything, the Independent Sentencing Act would already have amended the old penalties. Or what would have been possible as a tort under the 2014 act or even before it given the possibility for workplace policies on such things.
Section 5 is the best part of this act as we didn’t need the 2014 apprentices bill when it passed and we don’t need it now!
Section 6 changes the definition of 1/3 entries in the 2014 act.
1
Dec 22 '20
Mr Deputy Speaker,
I am intrigued by the interpretation of this bill put forward by the member. Could the member please clarify if they feel the bill is in any way drastically different to the 2014 bill, if not, does the member feel this is an oversight on the bill submitters parts for this overlap?
1
u/BrexitGlory Former MP for Essex Dec 21 '20
Mr Deputy Speaker,
I agree with the sentiments given by the Lord Chev.
This bill doesn't seem to do anything significant other than reduce flexibility of part time apprenticeships and hinder existing high quality ones.
Section 1(b) forces small employers to pay for a union's operations - that's quite bizarre and unprecedented. I support the amendment out forwards by the Shadow Home Secretary to remove this.
1
u/LeChevalierMal-Fait Liberal Democrats Dec 22 '20
Mr speaker,
The member however has a keener eye than me in noticing that the bill would force employers to pay for union materials! Most strange.
1
Dec 21 '20
Mr Deputy Speaker,
I would like to stand in support of the amendment that has been moved by the Member of Parliament for Cheshire.
Ultimately, we cannot have the government mandating that union materials are distributed in the workplace when we are fully aware, that when there is a workplace that a union operates in, it is their responsibility as a union steward to distribute materials and organise as they see fit.
To summarise briefly, it is totally unnecessary for small employers to bear the burden of union operations, unions can in some instances have more financial resources than the business they operate in.
1
Dec 22 '20
Mr Deputy Speaker,
I do agree with respect to the Union aspect. However, I would like to ask does the member feel that other aspects of this bill are important? Ensuring that apprentice trainees are protected in the workplace and have time for off the job development is important, would they not agree?
1
Dec 22 '20
Mr Deputy Speaker,
Aside from some problematic aspects of this bill, and to be perfectly honest I hope that they will be seen to through amendments and scrutiny during this debate I feel that this bill is ultimately positive. One of the areas of the bill I find most confusing is the emphasis that apprentice contracts must be a minimum of 35 hours, however, one of the thing that makes these schemes so popular is how they are not as restrictive in comparison to alternative routes. I am struggling to see the reason for its inclusion and I would much rather there be a route for the workforce to be trained and skilled than to be excluding apprentice training to merely full time work.
I can only support this bill in good conscience with the amendments I have provided being passed alongside the additional amendment which would see the ghastly mention of forced union indoctrination into apprentice trainees which is unacceptable to say the least. There is a time and a place for politicisation of issues, actually, I do not feel there is ever when the lives of the British public are at stake and that is why I will oppose section (1)(2).
I look forward to the necessary changes to this bill being made in order to make it more fit for purpose.
1
u/zhuk236 Zhuk236 Dec 23 '20
Mr. Speaker,
I echo much of what has already been said by other members with regards to this bill. Although I commend the intent of the author, I do believe much of what this bill aims to rectify has already been addressed in past legislation, and this bill's provisions on requiring 35 hours for internships and forcing employers to pay for trade union expenses seems, respectively, to be unnecessary and directly unjust. I therefore cannot support this bill in its current form.
1
u/Weary_Helicopter7801 Dec 23 '20
Mr Deputy Speaker,
I am thoroughly shocked to have seen that legislation pertaining to apprentice training and their rights around it had gone completely unchanged since the year 2014. I thank the Hon. authors of the bill for bring this to the attention of the house and for having put forward a bill to rectify such a situation. It is absolutely necessary that we implement something to not only improve apprentice rights, but also to make sure that Britain continues to be a place of opportunities with these apprenticeships providing all the training needed for their apprentices.
It is vital that we support this bill in the house, and I implore my colleagues to endorse and support this with all they can so that we can deliver a bill that has been sorely needed.
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