‘But it was all her fault, Srallan – I mean Lord Sugar – I mean…Enterprise Tsar?’
Margaret Mountford, a retired corporate lawyer from Herbert Smith and retained by Sir Alan Sugar as one of his interviewers on ‘The Apprentice’, observes in her Daily Telegraph column: ‘Sir Alan, Nick and I have seen a lot of the candidates over the past 11 weeks; we’ve watched them veer between triumph and disaster, seen them work in teams and got to know them as individuals.’
The show has undoubtedly engaged the UK’s business community on what makes a successful entrepreneur – innovation being high on the agenda during the current economic downturn. However, some HR professionals may have been surprised some of the interpretations of employment law — the People Bulletin wondered how constant references to one candidate’s age would go down if she took them to an industrial tribunal.
‘Srallan’ also graces the home page of the government’s Apprenticeships website. Launched in April 2009, the National Apprenticeships Service aims to increase the 130,000 apprenticeships currently being offered by employers.
Each Apprenticeship is made up of three elements; an NVQ, Technical Certificate and Key Skills. There are a large number of Apprenticeship frameworks within each sector and the exact amount of funding available depends on the exact framework that is taken. Apprenticeship rates are based upon activity costing work that has been undertaken by the LSC and are designed to cover the costs of delivery of learning and underpinning knowledge as well as administrative and pastoral support costs.
The provider starts to claim funding from the LSC as soon as the apprentice starts his/her programme and continues to draw down funds over the apprentice’s planned length of stay. 25% of the funding is paid to the provider on the achievement of the apprenticeship.
Sir Alan’s plans for future episodes of the popular BBC TV show are unclear following his appointment by Gordon Brown at the government’s Enterprise Champion. A statement from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills confirms: ‘Sir Alan is expected to give advice on how to ensure small firms and entrepreneurs make the most of the real help available from government and other organisations. He will champion the causes of viable small companies with banks and help to ensure the voices of small firms and entrepreneurs are heard by Government, suppliers and other entities. Areas he may look at include access to finance, prompt payment, how to handle the downturn and how to start a new business. The post will be unpaid.’
When faced with a possible conflict of interest on future episodes of ‘The Apprentice’ given the BBC’s stance in political independence, the prospective peer’s spokesman told The Daily Telegraph on 10 June: ‘Sir Alan… likes presenting ‘The Apprentice’ and has enjoyed the past five series enormously. He has loyalties on all sides, and he is adamant there will be no conflict of interest.’
Yasmina Siadatan, a 27-year-old restaurant owner won a £100,000 contract to work for Sir Alan in the final of ‘The Apprentice’ screened on BBC1 on 7 June 2009.
