Tony Mells suggests the need to bring back a financially supported national apprenticeship scheme (letters, CM June).

We believe ConstructionSkills Apprenticeships already fulfils many of the requirements he sets out.

In 2006 we placed 9,000 apprentices, but every year hundreds of willing applicants are unable to get a start in the industry. The government should take the lead by allocating adequate financial resource to ensure we can continue to support enough apprentices, but the real challenge is ensuring employers’ commitment to training young people.