Question reference: S6W-23706
- Asked by: Douglas Lumsden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 8 December 2023
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Current status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 8 January 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many heat engineer apprenticeships were available in the current financial year.
Answer
Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) are funded through Skills Development Scotland (SDS) via a competitive procurement process, with contracts issued to successful bidders on an annual basis. SDS contract with a wide range of providers for the delivery of MAs including employers, independent training providers, colleges, universities, third sector, local authorities and managing agents.
SDS do not contract places at a framework level and instead contract at an Occupational Grouping level to allow for flex within the system. It is up to providers to best utilise these places based on demand.
The most relevant frameworks relating to heat engineer occupations are “Plumbing and Heating” and “Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration”. Statistics published by SDS show there were the following number of starts on each framework:
Modern Apprenticeship Framework | No. of Starts by the end of Quarter 2 2023-24 | No. of Starts in 2022-23 |
Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration | 69 | 104 |
Plumbing and Heating | 156 | 461 |
It is worth noting that Modern Apprentices are employed and subject to employer recruitment patterns and processes, in the same way as other employees. Quarter 2 statistics are therefore not indicative of year-end overall number of starts.