Call for a 10-year skills plan to help the young

Apprenticeships for half of university students, MP says

A NEW 10-year nationwide skills plan should be launched to pave the way for half of all university students to study degree apprenticeships as part of a training revolution.

The challenge is set by senior politician Robert Halfon, chair of Parliament’s cross-party Education Select Committee, as part of the week-long series, A Blueprint for Yorkshire’s Future, launched by this newspaper.

He says skills and training are so important to the prospects of young people that it needs the level of commitment afforded to the NHS – and a fully fledged “apprenticeship guarantee” – if another generation of youth unemployment is to be avoided as the Covid-19 recession deepens.

He also warns Ministers that short-term policy solutions do not go far enough – and more tuition and mentoring needs to be offered to disadvantaged pupils whose school studies have been hit by the Covid-19 lockdown.

Warning that attainment in the North was lagging behind other parts of the country before the pandemic struck, there are now concerns that not all schools will fully reopen in September.

In The Yorkshire Post, Mr Halfon writes: “If the NHS can have a 10-year plan, surely education and skills should have one too, setting out a strategic vision, funding and policy proposals.

Our country’s anthem should not just be ‘Build, build, build’ but ‘Skills, skills, skills’.”

Pointing to new research by accountants PwC which says nearly 30 per cent of jobs currently taken by 16 to 24-year-olds could be fully automated by the next decade, Mr Halfon is perturbed by a recent drop in school-leavers beginning apprenticeships.

“Yorkshire is fortunate to have some remarkable universities, further education and higher education colleges, but they should be encouraged to increase their degree apprenticeships offer,” he writes.

“My hope is that 50 per cent of students going to university will be doing degree apprenticeships – earning while they learn, without being saddled with debt, acquiring skills and securing a highquality job upon completion.”

Mr Halfon also calls for the Government to change its procurement rules so lucrative Government contracts are awarded to firms at the vanguard of the apprenticeship policy.

Last night Northern Powerhouse Partnership director Henri Murison welcomed the intervention.

“We were glad to be able to work with Robert Halfon MP and many Northern Parliamentarians on a cross-party basis to secure the Government’s catch-up fund, including the element focused on children who have fallen furthest behind,” he said.

“Apprenticeships, and in particular the potential for more degree apprenticeships, are vital as we build back better.”