Clarissa de Waal highlighted a number of points about adult training (Letters, 21 May, page 40) that the CITB is addressing.
Together with the Construction Industry Council and CITB Northern Ireland, we will be submitting a sector skills agreement to government before the end of the year which will highlight the industry's training needs and our proposed solutions. One of these issues is adult training.

The CITB's grant for apprentices has traditionally supported the training of entrants aged 16 to 25, in line with government age limits. Clearly, people should not be discouraged from joining the industry because of age and the government recognised this a few weeks ago when the chancellor announced the removal of the limits.

We are planning a pilot scheme from September to look at the employment of adult apprentices, which will highlight any extra support that they, and their employers, may need. This will be addressed as part of the sector skills agreement.

Clarissa's circumstance however, as a self-employed adult new entrant trainee, is unusual and as such we will be contacting her individually to see how we can assist.

Postscript

Julian Humphreys, Business Manager Recruitment and Careers, CITB-ConstructionSkills