The future of the Government’s advertising campaign to attract employers to its £800m apprenticeship scheme is under threat owing to funding pressures, according to newspaper reports.
The Daily Telegraph said an internal memo from the government training body the Learning & Skills Council (LSC) has revealed that there is no money available to fund the campaign in 2005-6.
The memo says this is because of its drive to concentrate resources on existing learners during the current funding year, which ends in July 2005.
The LSC said it has had more than 22,000 employer responses from the existing campaign, of which 2,000 have committed to offering apprenticeships. It said it is on target to achieve the aim of 175,000 apprenticeships starting this year.
Figures show that only 28 per cent of young people who begin an apprenticeship complete it.
