Red tape will be slashed to make it easier for employers to take on more apprentices, Skills Secretary John Denham announced today.

He said that unnecessary bureaucracy such as demands to store paperwork for up to six years, multiple inspection visits and monthly reporting requirements will be ditched at the earliest possible opportunity.

Denham,said he had become concerned that bureaucracy is deterring some companies - including small and medium-sized enterprises - from taking on apprentices after discussions with business. - Excess paperwork will be removed through use of electronic audit and storage, tackling employers' concerns about keeping paper records for up to six years.

A range of measures will now be undertaken:

- Registration and certification processes will be simplified, including faster confirmation that apprentices have successfully completed their programmes. Employers will no longer have to wait several months for a paper certificate to arrive;

- Payment systems will be streamlined, for example by enabling payments to be made in two lump sums rather than on a monthly basis if employer requests this;

- Monthly reporting requirements will be scrapped;

- Inspection and review visits will be reduced, tackling employers' concerns that they can face several different review and inspection processes that are not co-ordinated and don't share evidence between them; and

- Health and Safety requirements for apprentices will be based more closely on businesses' existing in-house systems.

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