14th February marked the end of National Apprenticeship Week- a time to give apprenticeships the spotlight, status, and support they need and deserve.
The Government has already rightly put apprenticeships front-and-centre of our education and skills agenda. The government’s very first bit of education legislation is still undergoing parliamentary scrutiny, but the Bill will, if passed, pave the way for Skills England- a body that will find and fill skills gaps across Suffolk and across Britain, providing thousands of young people with skilled jobs at the forefront of our push for economic growth.
This builds on the Prime Minister’s announcement of new foundation apprenticeships, designed to ensure our training and skills system is fundamentally oriented towards the interests of young people in communities like ours, and, by extension, towards economic growth.
The Government is also opening pioneering Homebuilding Skills Hubs, to train the next generation of construction trades. This generation will be the one powering the Government’s mission to get Britain building again.
However, this is not just a national initiative, dictated from Whitehall. Our local education institutions here in Suffolk are leading the way nationally on this issue, too, for example in Suffolk New College and the Eastern Education Group.
And last Autumn, I signed an agreement with Sizewell C that, as well as guaranteeing 500 jobs for Ipswich residents, supports our colleges and university here in Suffolk to boost skills and channel investment in our local supply chain.
Encouragingly, the first set of statistics since the General Election saw an increase in apprenticeship starts, participation, and achievement compared to the same period under the previous government.
I want to see those numbers being driven up further still, especially here in Suffolk. It is about time to give apprenticeships the status and support they need. Local families know their value. Local businesses know their value. Now, we have a government that does, too.
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