Apprenticeships need to be more flexible if they are to meet the needs of business and hit government targets, according to sector skills council Lantra.

Lantra research has highlighted a range of problems with publicly funded Apprenticeship Frameworks as Apprenticeship Week begins.

These include insufficient funding for over 19s, a bias toward non-work-based testing, over-stretched colleges and too much red-tape.

This has led to organisations such as the National Trust running their own apprenticeships without official acknowledgement or funding.

A Lantra Spokesperson said: “The government says more than 200,000 adults will be able to start apprenticeships each year by 2015, and has earmarked £250 million. But if it wants to hit its targets, and attract adults, it will have to make apprenticeships more flexible.

“The current system excludes other Apprenticeship-style training, often on a technicality. For instance, Maths and ICT are tested by old-fashioned exams in the Government framework; other frameworks test these during vocational training - making them ineligible for funding.”

Lantra research shows the sector needs 110,000 new entrants by 2017, and so must draw from an adult employee pool.

However, its report, Apprenticeships in the UK Land-based and Environmental Sector: Increasing Take-up and Opportunity, reveals an ‘unacceptably low’ take up of apprenticeships by employers, particularly in businesses employing 10 people or less.

Apprenticeship Week runs from 4-11 February.