A number of worrying trends have emerged about how London’s apprenticeship numbers stack up in terms of ethnicity, gender, disability and age groups:
- Black Londoners are over-represented in apprenticeships as a whole, but they tend to be concentrated in lower level apprenticeships or in sectors which have larger numbers of low pay workers.2
- Asian Londoners are under-represented in apprenticeships in comparison to their share of the working age population.3
- Women are more likely to be out of work at the end of their apprenticeship – 16 per cent of women said they were out of work, compared to 6 per cent of men.4
Despite having the second largest population in England, London is consistently among the worst performers in numbers of apprenticeship starts regionally. Last year, London had the second lowest number of apprenticeship starts across England with 45,550, compared to the best performing North West region with 79,310.
The London Assembly Economy Committee will tomorrow examine the lack of diversity in apprenticeships in London and how the Mayor can help increase participation from under-represented groups, in good quality and higher level apprenticeships. The following guests will be questioned:
- Jeremy Hempstead, Chief Executive of The London Apprenticeship Company
- Barry Mortimer, London Director, the Federation of Master Builders
- Dr Carole Easton, Chief Executive, Young Women’s Trust
- Ben Robinson, Director of Policy, Community Links
The meeting will take place on Wednesday 7 September from 2:30pm in Committee Room 5 at City Hall (The Queen’s Walk, London SE1). Media and members of the public are invited to attend.
The meeting can also be viewed via webcast.
Follow us @LondonAssembly and take part in the meeting discussion using #AssemblyEconomy and #Apprenticeships.
Notes to editors
- Full agenda papers.
- Black Training and Enterprise Group, Jeremy Crook OBE, December 2014.
- Apprenticeship Starts and Completions, Region and Local Authority.
- Making Apprenticeships Work for Young Women, The Young Women’s Trust, March 2016.
- Fiona Twycross AM, Chair of the Economy Committee is available for interview. See contact details below.
- London Assembly Economy Committee.
- As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.
For media enquiries, please contact Lisa Lam on 020 7983 4067. For out of hours media enquiries, call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the London Assembly duty press officer. Non-media enquiries should be directed to the Public Liaison Unit on 020 7983 4100.