On 15th November, in a reply to a Commons question about work placements from Warley MP John Spellar, The Rt. Honourable John Denham, Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills said "Since 1997, we have expanded the number of apprenticeships from 75,000 to about 250,000. In 2013, we aim to introduce an entitlement to an apprenticeship place for all 16 to 19-year-olds who meet the entry criteria and our longer-term commitment is to increase the number of apprenticeships in England to 400,000."

I WELCOME our local MP Mr Denham's announcement that we are to see a further expansion of apprenticeship training, but in spite of his claims, we in the furniture industry, particular in the small and micro sector, are still suffering from a lack of dedicated training support and funding.

The most recent blow is the decision by the former London College of Furniture, which has evolved in recent years to become the London Metropolitan University to cut "craft skills'' based training from the curriculum. Rumour has it, that the number crunchers can squeeze more income from courses which demand less resource in terms of space and equipment and therefore, in a bid to balance the books, more costly programmes are being dropped. With the help of Madeleine Moon MP, chairman of the Furniture All Party Parliamentary Group. The Association of Master Upholsterers and Soft Furnishers have been trying to raise awareness of this decision in a bid to persuade the powers that be to change their minds, but our efforts have fallen on deaf ears. My question to Mr Denham is, if the institutions charged with the task of delivering high quality craft and skills training opt for more lucrative courses, how is the Government going to meet its target on apprenticeships? To address the skills shortage we should look to Britain's small business community who, with direct financial support coupled with backup from college based providers, will deliver the agenda and address the shortage.

Derek Caplen F.A.M.U, Dee Cee Upholstery