National Federation of Builders respond to Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP's article on apprenticeships
National Federation of Builders
Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Labour MP for Slough, has correctly highlighted some of the issues that construction SMEs are having with the current state of the apprenticeship levy, writes the National Federation of Builders.
Citing problems with accessing funding, expiry of unspent levy funds and a complex application process, Mr Dhesi made an impassioned plea for the Government to further engage with SMEs, who have been highlighting these concerns for a number of years.
Richard Beresford, chief executive at the National Federation of Builders (NFB), commented “SMEs train four in five construction apprentices but with planning permissions taking an average of 12 months to be granted, procurement remaining an unlevel playing field and late payment blighting our industry, they cannot plan a pipeline of work to invest in new staff and training. Fixing the levy must be high on the Government agenda but ensuring our industry has business certainty must be their priority.”
