Balfour Beatty pushes for more apprenticeships

CONSTRUCTION giant Balfour Beatty has called on local and national government to change the way projects are procured to ensure apprentices in Scotland don’t get the sack before their training is complete.

Tim Clarke, divisional managing director of Balfour Beatty Construction Scotland, said that current practice, where local authorities demand contractors provide short-term jobs rather than apprenticeships, was a “rascal’s game”.

He said Balfour Beatty could double the number of apprentices it hired in Scotland if public contracts weighed in the costs of ensuring young people were recruited for a full two- to three-year period, rather than just a few months.

Clarke said: “If we all agree that is the right thing to do, can we please have it written in somewhere that public procurement values the number of youngsters seen through permanently rather than this rascal’s game of starting youngsters to get your statistics, then sacking them.”

Balfour Beatty has pledged it will hire 15 apprentices across Scotland and will create 50 to 100 such positions over the next two years.

The call comes as the Scottish Government defended its modern apprenticeship programme after opposition politicians branded the number of young people hired as a “blatant con”.

But the government hit back, arguing that employers will often enrol recruits for apprenticeships after they have been in post for a period of time.

ERIKKA ASKELAND