The Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne gave his annual Autumn Statement to Parliament on 3rd December 2014.

Apprentice Eye recently caught up with Stephen Jeffery, CEO of the London Learning Consortium (LLC) a Community Interest Company that provides vocational programmes, work-place learning, apprenticeships and online courses.

The announcement makes L&Q one of the first of London’s G15 housing associations to make the voluntary commitment to pay London Living Wage to all of its new in-house apprentices.

While candidates first entering the labour market are reportedly more qualified, 43% of employers said too few applicants had sufficient ‘employability’ skills such as literacy, numeracy, teamwork and self-management, as well as a general positive and proactive approach to work.

Concerns have been raised that apprenticeships are losing their focus on young people, after figures from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) found that more than 350,000 of the UK’s 851,000 apprentices were over 25, and more than 50,000 were aged over 50.

Check out this video which follows up with Rafia Amin, mother of Jasmine Amin, a graduated Arch Apprentice. Rafia tells us about how she felt when Jasmine decided to do an apprenticeship and her thoughts on apprenticeships overall.