Workers from the construction industry have called on the Scottish government to introduce new legislation to help the industry recruit and retain apprentices.

The Scottish Building Federation (SBF) said skills and training opportunities need to be a key criterion when awarding public sector contracts.

The Scottish government said it was already delivering a record 25,000 modern apprenticeships this year, and was already using major public contracts to deliver new training and employment opportunities through the use of community benefit clauses.

The call follows a survey from the SBF's latest Scottish Construction Monitor, indicating employers' confidence has plummeted in the last three months, with a rise in the proportion of employers more pessimistic about the outlook for their business over the next year.

Of firms which offer apprenticeships, a mere 12% expected to be able to recruit an increased number of apprentices over the 12 months, while 56% expected to cut back on the number.

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Almost a fifth of those surveyed anticipated having to cut the number of apprentices they recruited to zero this year.

SBF chief executive Michael Levack commented: "The public procurement system could do a great deal more to recognise the significant efforts many building firms are making in continuing to offer apprenticeships in the face of such tough trading conditions," he said.

"We have strongly welcomed the Scottish government's commitment to bring forward a sustainable procurement bill designed to recognise the creation of skills and training opportunities as part of the system for awarding public sector contracts.

"With a downward trend in the number of apprentices working in construction apparently set to continue over the next 12 months, the Scottish government needs to accelerate the timetable for bringing forward this legislation and extend its scope beyond major contracts to include public construction contracts of any size."

He added: "In so doing, the Scottish government would give a greater number of industry employers the confidence to recruit more apprentices, and help the industry to start rebuilding the skills and capacity it has lost."

A spokesman from the Scottish Government said: "The Scottish government published guidance on the use of community benefit clauses in 2008.

"These clauses have already resulted in almost 1,200 new entrants being recruited to jobs or training places, including over 500 apprentices.

"Existing contract clauses require contractors to fill another 800 training and employment places, bringing the overall total of training and employment places created through community benefit clauses in these contracts to over 2,000 across the wider public sector."

(JG/GK)