ARTS COUNCIL OF ENGLAND'S APPRENTICESHIP SCHEME

EDM number 1622 in 1997-98, proposed by Martin Smyth on 28/07/1998.

That this House recognises that the Arts Council of England's pilot apprenticeship scheme has created new employment opportunities in the arts for disabled people, and that the scheme is a partnership between the apprentice, the host arts organisation and the Arts Council of England, with the Arts Council providing a grant to cover the apprentice's wages during the apprenticeship; further recognises that by matching hard-working, committed people with organisations offering training and the prospect of long-term employment, this pilot scheme has successfully demonstrated that disabled people can find long-term employment in a variety of roles within the arts - administrative, technical, managerial, educational and creative; and calls on the Government to consider ways of supporting the apprenticeship scheme to make it more widely available to disabled people nationally.

This motion has been signed by a total of 12 MPs.