107.This section of the Act amends schedule 1 of the 2005 Act, placing a new requirement on the Council to establish an apprenticeship committee, to advise it on matters concerning apprenticeships and work-based learning.
108.Ministers must issue guidance to the Council about the membership of the committee and its functions, and the appointment of the committee chair, and the Council must have regard to guidance about membership of the committee. The Council must also appoint a member to chair meetings of the new apprenticeship committee.
109.In appointing members of the apprenticeship committee, the Council is to have regard to the desirability of including persons who are apprentices or appear to the Council to be representative of apprentices; persons who appear to the Council to be representative of businesses, including small and rural businesses, with an interest in apprenticeships; employers of apprentices or appear to the Council to be representative of such employers; persons who appear to the Council to be representative of the post-16 education bodies; persons who are training providers as defined in the new section 12J(3) of the 2005 Act, i.e. persons who provide or appear to the Council to be representative of persons who provide either work-based learning or the training of an apprentice required under a Scottish apprenticeship framework; and persons representative of any trade union which appears in turn to the Council to be representative of the interests of Scottish apprentices.
110.Furthermore, in appointing members of the committee, the Council is to consult persons who appear to the Council to be representative of apprentices, and persons who appear to be representative of employers of apprentices. In exercising its functions, the apprenticeship committee itself may consult local authorities and have regard to their views.
Commentary on Provisions Part 3 – Governance of the Council Section 31: Apprenticeship committee