CIOB’s senior parliamentary and public affairs officer David Parry joined the roundtable discussion on apprenticeships held by Group Metropolitan as part of National Apprenticeship Week.
The event brought together industry leaders and their apprentices, professional bodies and government to discuss the current state of apprenticeships within the construction sector.
The session explored how young people access opportunities, the visibility of apprenticeships in schools, the challenges of recruitment, and the need for better industry‑wide communication.
Parry shared views on the lack of meaningful apprenticeship information in schools. He pointed to CIOB research showing that nearly half of young people receive little careers advice about the construction industry.
“We surveyed 16- to 24-year-olds and nearly 50% said that they’d received no careers advice on construction at school,” he said, a finding that was backed by the apprentices at the discussion who all reported having no career information available about construction at school.
The debate also included a discussion about the need for a coordinated, modern communication strategy. Parry suggested the industry could learn from the armed forces’ recruitment campaigns: “We need something like ‘I was made in the Royal Navy’, but for construction.”
Support for apprenticeships, was shared by Sarah Maclean, CEO at Skills England, which was followed by Parry emphasising the ongoing struggle to turn policy into action.
“The government can set the policy, but we’ve got to be the ones who take the action.”
