Mr. Andrew Magee:

We have a range of new types of courses at AMTCE. They are not apprenticeships but they present the same challenges. We have courses in robotics, for example and some in AI. There is a challenge with new technologies regarding the industries themselves. We are trying to train employees in companies who are working in those areas and it is difficult to get those employees as instructors because it a new technology. Through the contracted training framework and the skills to advance policy, we work with companies to provide training directly to employees. These are not apprenticeships but this is how we overcome the challenge of having to take an experienced person from industry, and train them to become an instructor who will train the learners. This is how we have got around the issue at AMTCE. We contract companies who provide industry professionals to do the training for us. Over time, the hope is that companies can train staff they recruit through the normal HR channels. There is no doubt that having instructors in front of classes to train people in new technologies is a massive challenge, but that is how we have overcome it.

It is a longer journey for apprenticeships because they take so long to validate and we would hope to have a breadth of employers and people wanting to take a course. We try prepare that and get the staff complement in place before the class is called.