Construction Sector
Businesses to face less apprenticeship red tape in New
Year
Health & Safety update 23/12/2011
Businesses will face radically scaled-back health and safety
requirements when they take on an apprentice from 1 January.
Skills minister, John Hayes, said that companies will now only
have to comply with the legal minimum health and safety
requirements. Speaking in the Commons this week, Hayes said that
the new legislation will help companies start apprenticeships, but
will see the apprentices themselves put at no greater risk.
"From 1 January, employers that meet the Health and Safety
Executive's requirements as set out in 'Health and safety made
simple' will be deemed to provide a satisfactory level of
compliance," Hayes told his fellow MPs.
He explained that the Government would work with the insurance
industry to develop a means of insuring apprentices that is
proportionate to the risks they face. From March 2012, training
providers will also establish new standards of service to support
small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which will be included
in all apprenticeship contracts.
Hayes added that the time it takes for an employer to advertise
an apprenticeship vacancy will be reduced to one month. This time
will encompass the processes involved in identifying the provider
and completing an agreement on a training package between the
employer and the provider.
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