Skills boost is vital for region

Apprenticeships key to future

YOUNG peoples’ futures cannot be allowed to fall victim to the economic impact of coronavirus, which is why it is essential that the Government heeds today’s call for a comprehensive drive to boost degree apprenticeships.

Senior Tory MP Robert Halfon’s detailed proposals for a concerted, strategic programme to transform skills training, set out as part of this newspaper’s Blueprint for Yorkshire’s Future, offers an eminently sensible and practical way forward at a time when the prospects for many young people hang in the balance.

Without radical action to boost training, there is a real risk that the young could face a bleak future. Thousands of jobs are already being lost as a result of the fallout from Covid-19, which makes it imperative that there is a renewed emphasis on skills, both for the sake of the young and Britain’s ability to recover from the crisis.

Mr Halfon is right to call for a 10-year plan to boost degree apprenticeships. A long-term view must be taken on this issue if an entire generation is not to be blighted by unemployment.

For our county in particular, there is an urgent need for action. Attainment levels were already falling behind other regions before the pandemic struck, which raises the possibility of our young people being doubly disadvantaged.

That must be avoided at all costs, and one way it could be is for the Government to accept Mr Halfon’s idea of giving contracts to companies which are committed to taking on apprentices.

There is some cause for optimism that the Government recognises the vital role degree apprenticeships have to play. Two months ago, speaking to The Yorkshire Post, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, outlined his conviction that education and skills were the key to recovery. He was right, and the time to act is now.