TRAINING Labour details ‘apprenticeship guarantee’


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Labour leader Ed Miliband has outlined plans that would guarantee apprenticeships for every school leaver in England who “gets the grades” by 2020. Labour has recently been


detailing the business policies it would implement if it wins the general election in May, with training a core focus. In a speech last month


at the Jaguar Land Rover factory in Wolverhampton, Miliband identified better training and higher wages as central pillars to boosting productivity, and said that he would like to create an extra 80,000 apprenticeships. Youngsters with ‘Level 3 qualifi cations’ – the equivalent of having two A-Levels – would qualify for the scheme, but those with only GCSEs would not. Apprenticeships have been a hot topic


in the physical activity sector of late, fol- lowing the attainment of Trailblazer status, allowing employers to defi ne apprenticeship standards for PTs and leisure managers. T e extra responsibility is designed to enable the industry to streamline training pathways and proactively address skills shortages.


Miliband said better training and higher wages boost productivity T e Trailblazer initiative – which has been


rolled out across several industries – was brought in by the coalition government, and the Conservative party has also said it wants to create more apprenticeships if it stays in power. Tory MP Grant Shapps has outlined pro-


posals to cap benefi ts further, with a view to funding a total of three million apprentice- ships. But critics pointed out that under the current government, the number of 16 to 19-year-olds in apprenticeships had actually decreased. Details: http://lei.sr?a=p4U9Y


Poor pool capacity could halt baby boom


T e infant private swim school sector that has surged in the UK over the past decade is yet to reach its peak, although growth could still be checked by a lack of pool capacity, a Swimming Teachers Association (STA) survey has found. Despite recent Sport England


fi gures showing that overall swimming participation saw an eight per cent drop over the last 12 months, the baby swimming market remains buoyant. Around 82 per cent of the swim


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schools which took part in the latest survey from STA said they had seen a “signifi cant” rise over the last fi ve years in the number of babies (youngsters aged two and under) they teach weekly. T e survey, which drew 206 responses from


schools which teach a combined 50,000 babies each week, was a follow up to research carried out in 2009, designed to measure the indus- try’s progress over the past fi ve years. Almost 86 per cent of respondents said the


baby swim market had not yet reached its peak, although many warned that growth could be capped because of pool time availability.


18 Read Leisure Opportunities online: www.leisureopportunities.co.uk/digital 82 per cent say the baby swim sector has grown since 2009 More than half admitted that the increase


in demand for lessons compared with pool time availability was a concern; while 58 per cent said the limited number of pools also gave them cause for concern. Just over one third (34 per cent) also cited a lack of adequately quali- fi ed teachers as a problem for their business, compared with 24 per cent fi ve years ago. On a positive note, 60 new swim schools have opened since the last survey – a 27 per cent increase. Details: http://lei.sr?a=k3G2f


Twitter: @leisureopps © CYBERTREK 2015


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