The article in last week鈥檚 issue 鈥淐ITB hits back at criticism of craft apprenticeships鈥� (20 May, page 17) is inaccurate and misleading.

The 25% apprenticeship framework completion rate quoted in our report 好色先生TV the Future and in the press release is CITB-Construction Skills鈥� own figure for framework achievements in England for the calendar year 2004.

The overall figures for Britain are, of course, higher than this since the achievement rates in Scotland, for example, are much higher than those for England. Also, the overall figure for framework achievement for 鈥渃onstruction鈥� appears higher because it includes the achievement rates for building services engineering which are about twice as high as those for the traditional construction crafts, which are the CITB鈥檚 responsibility.

We have not speculated about what the expected achievement levels might be, but the 40% target achievement quoted by the CITB is hardly inspiring for an industry with a long history of apprenticeships and with a wealth of role models.

David Cormican, inspection manager, Adult Learning Inspectorate

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