This week marks National Apprenticeships Week, giving us an opportunity to celebrate apprentices and the impact they have on our community.

I’ve met a number of apprentices from across the UK in my role as Shadow Armed Forces Minister and I am always struck by the pride people have for doing an apprenticeship. Apprenticeships give people the skills required for the jobs of the future, provide exciting opportunities, and support economic growth. 

I was delighted to meet Kellie, a Graduate Test Equipment Engineer at RTX in Plymouth, who was representing our city at an event held by ADS at Westminster.

Under the Tories, young people have been let down. Apprenticeship starts have fallen by a third in the last decade. General incompetence and sticking plaster politics, as well as 8 education ministers in 6 six years have put up fresh barriers to opportunity for young people. 

Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has been clear that boosting Britain’s skills will be a priority for a Labour Government:

• We will reform the apprenticeships levy, creating a ‘Growth and Skills Levy’ giving businesses flexibility and driving growth across our economy.
• We will establish a new body ‘Skills England’ to oversee a national effort to upskill Britain over the next decade, so we can meet the challenges of climate change, automotion and global competition.
• We will introduce new Technical Excellence Colleges creating a network of specialised colleges stretching across the country to meet the skills needs of local businesses and communities
• We will devolve skills and training budgets to combined authorities joining-up local economic plans with the skills training needed to deliver for communities

It is time to end the Tory chaos that has caused the decline in apprenticeship starts. Labour will transform our skills system

Read more about Labour’s plan at: https://labour.org.uk/missions/opportunity/