Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on a visit to an apprentice training centre in Coventry. AFP
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on a visit to an apprentice training centre in Coventry. AFP
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on a visit to an apprentice training centre in Coventry. AFP
Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on a visit to an apprentice training centre in Coventry. AFP


Robo Rishi Sunak has little to offer struggling SMEs seeking skilled staff


  • English
  • Arabic

March 19, 2024

It is Action Man time again. Faced with terrible polls, no discernible ‘Budget bounce’ and Tory MPs, fearful of losing their jobs in a matter of months, now openly plotting against him, Rishi Sunak seeks to impress that he is very much in charge and he’s above the trivia of British politics.

On Monday this week, he sees Barack Obama in Downing Street and the Prime Minister addresses a small business conference in Warwickshire, in the heart of the country.

He finds time for a photo shoot, of the sort we’ve seen before, ad nauseam, of Sunak (Winchester College, Oxford, Goldman Sachs) looking earnest and interested on a factory floor as he is shown how a piece of machinery functions.

It’s sad and it’s desperate. It smacks, too, of crude propaganda. In his speech Sunak announces the creation of 20,000 apprenticeships and that £60 million ($76 million) is being set aside to cover the cost.

He spoke of how these and other measures “will unlock a tidal wave of opportunity and make a real difference to businesses and entrepreneurs across the country”.

The BBC and others report it in unquestioningly. Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch is quoted, describing SMEs as the “engines of economic growth”. The government, she said, was committed to doing “all it can to turbocharge small businesses”.

According to the latest figures, there are 5.51 million SMEs in the UK.

Simple maths say that 20,000 and £60 million will not amount to even the shallowest of ripples across the sector. Where Sunak gets his tidal wave from is not clear. Presumably, he would have said ‘tsunami’ but thought better of it on taste grounds.

What is happening here is that late in the day, when there is little public money to go around, ministers have woken up to the importance of apprenticeships.

Historically, they were a feature of the working environment – the master teaching his apprentice, passing on his craft. Then they declined with the onset of the Industrial Revolution as bosses objected to the restrictions training contracts imposed.

In the early 1960s there was a concerted effort to revitalise apprentice schemes as the UK suffered skill shortages across industry and engineering. Over the next two decades, when they were at their postwar height, pupils would leave school, not go to university and learn a trade. Society thought nothing less of them for it.

Many would go on to form their own small businesses with the qualifications they had gained as trainee electricians, plumbers, builders, carpenters and so on. They were the backbone of the local community, core to the economy.

Some would grow their firms to substantial sizes, still others would come up with an idea for a new way of doing something, a device that would save time and effort, and make their fortunes.

The Sunday Times Rich List was testament to how many of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs began in this fashion. Apprenticeships formed a vital part of the wealth creation process.

Then, views changed. Attending university and gaining a degree became paramount. The universities sector expanded rapidly. All manner of educational institutes were rebranded universities – many of them arguably not suitable for providing that level of education.

Degrees were offered in a panoply of subjects – again, many did not lend themselves to concentrated academic study, of the sort demanded by a degree.

A decline in apprenticeships that started under Margaret Thatcher was accelerated. Running in parallel was the reduction in manufacturing.

Gradually, the realisation set in that not everyone was equipped or willing to go to university; at the same time, employers were complaining of shortages, that recruits lacked the necessary qualifications and experience.

What had been a conveyor belt of talent for small to medium enterprises was no more – they were struggling to find the UK staff they required and were looking abroad.

In 2017, the Chancellor George Osborne, introduced the ‘apprenticeship levy’, a funding scheme in which employers and government would share the cost of training.

It was projected to raise £2.5 billion for the development of apprenticeships. Unfortunately, for reasons best known to them, those charged with devising the framework made it incredibly complex – leading to a deluge of complaints from SMEs that they were having to deal with yet more red tape.

Since then, it’s been simplified but only partially – employers still moan it is unnecessarily cumbersome and burdensome.

There are now four different types of national apprenticeship, depending on the age, school qualifications and the difficulty of the training. Now that the spotlight has turned to universities and their quality and funding, the popularity of apprenticeships has increased, with more businesses supplying on-the-job training and study.

In 2021, the latest year for which figures are available, there were 253,000 people serving as apprentices in the UK. Against this, and the cost, Sunak’s announcement of 20,000 new posts and £60 million appear tiny.

Wholesale reform, which is what businesses have been calling for, would be more impactful – but then that would require money and imagination, both of which are in short supply where Sunak’s administration is concerned.

His choice of subject for special treatment is correct; the extent of his government’s commitment is nowhere near enough.

Profile

Company: Justmop.com

Date started: December 2015

Founders: Kerem Kuyucu and Cagatay Ozcan

Sector: Technology and home services

Based: Jumeirah Lake Towers, Dubai

Size: 55 employees and 100,000 cleaning requests a month

Funding:  The company’s investors include Collective Spark, Faith Capital Holding, Oak Capital, VentureFriends, and 500 Startups. 

BAD%20BOYS%3A%20RIDE%20OR%20DIE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Adil%20El%20Arbi%20and%20Bilall%20Fallah%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EWill%20Smith%2C%20Martin%20Lawrence%2C%20Joe%20Pantoliano%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
While you're here
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3ECompany%20name%3A%20EduPloyment%3Cbr%3EDate%20started%3A%20March%202020%3Cbr%3ECo-Founders%3A%20Mazen%20Omair%20and%20Rana%20Batterjee%3Cbr%3EBase%3A%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20Recruitment%3Cbr%3ESize%3A%2030%20employees%3Cbr%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20Pre-Seed%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Angel%20investors%20(investment%20amount%20undisclosed)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
ICC Women's T20 World Cup Asia Qualifier 2025, Thailand

UAE fixtures
May 9, v Malaysia
May 10, v Qatar
May 13, v Malaysia
May 15, v Qatar
May 18 and 19, semi-finals
May 20, final

What is graphene?

Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.

It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.

It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.

It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.

Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.

The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.

Gothia Cup 2025

4,872 matches 

1,942 teams

116 pitches

76 nations

26 UAE teams

15 Lebanese teams

2 Kuwaiti teams

COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3EFounder%3A%20Hani%20Abu%20Ghazaleh%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Abu%20Dhabi%2C%20with%20an%20office%20in%20Montreal%3Cbr%3EFounded%3A%202018%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20Virtual%20Reality%3Cbr%3EInvestment%20raised%3A%20%241.2%20million%2C%20and%20nearing%20close%20of%20%245%20million%20new%20funding%20round%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%2012%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

Company Profile

Company name: Yeepeey

Started: Soft launch in November, 2020

Founders: Sagar Chandiramani, Jatin Sharma and Monish Chandiramani

Based: Dubai

Industry: E-grocery

Initial investment: $150,000

Future plan: Raise $1.5m and enter Saudi Arabia next year

While you're here

The Laughing Apple

Yusuf/Cat Stevens

(Verve Decca Crossover)

Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm

Price: From Dh1,700,000

Available: Now

Yuki Means Happiness
Alison Jean Lester
John Murray 

The specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm

Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm

Transmission: 9-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh117,059

Updated: March 20, 2024, 10:27 AM`