Scottish Apprenticeship Week

As an amendment to motion S4M-13112 in the name of Roseanna Cunningham (Scottish Apprenticeship Week), insert at end "; urges the Scottish Government to have a renewed focus on delivering more higher level apprenticeships as promised in its response to the final report of the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce in June 2014; recognises that there is a gender imbalance in the delivery of modern apprenticeships, both across the frameworks and the levels, with significantly fewer women training to levels 4 and 5 and in subjects including construction and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industries; understands that less than 1% of apprentices in Scotland have a declared disability, compared with 7.8% in England, and considers that this disparity should be reviewed as a priority, and believes that the decision by the UK Government to abolish employers’ national insurance contributions for apprentices aged under 25 from April 2016 will enable businesses to employ more apprentices".