Lisa Nandy MP: Creating a skills system that works

​Apprenticeships are vital in helping people develop the skills they need to get new jobs or progress at work and can lead to increased career earnings and richer, more fulfilling working lives.

Yet over the last decade apprenticeship starts in Wigan have declined by almost 45% as the Tories have failed to equip people and the economy with the skills they need. Last year there were 630 less apprenticeship starts in Wigan than 10 years before.

Many people now lack the basic digital skills required in our economy and young people are leaving education without the qualifications they need and feel unprepared for their futures. Our public services have growing skills shortages and businesses are unable to fill job vacancies.

People are ambitious for their futures. They want to learn new skills, get new jobs and further their careers but they are being let down.

Locally, action is being taken to help reverse the slump in apprenticeship starts and boost skills. Last year Wigan Council launched its Future Apprenticeships for Business scheme which provides grant funding for local businesses to employ apprentices. More than £250,000 has been allocated to firms as part of the scheme.

During the last 12 months, 68 businesses have had applications approved and nearly 40 apprentices have started their new roles with dozens more preparing to start.

Wigan Council is also practicing what it preaches and was recognised last year as a top 100 apprenticeship employer – the only council in the country to receive that accolade. In 2021 the council pledged to create 100 new apprenticeship and graduate jobs within town hall. This target was reached two years early and the council have now pledged to create another 100.

Such efforts must be matched at the national level and a Labour Government would create a skills system that works for businesses and for our country.

Labour will reform the Tories’ failed Apprenticeships Levy, a tax on employers that is supposed to be used to fund apprenticeships, into a Growth & Skills Levy to be used on the greater range of training courses that businesses tell us they need, so people can gain new skills and businesses can grow.

We will recruit over a thousand new careers advisors and deliver two weeks’ worth of work experience for every young person, paid for by ending private schools’ tax breaks, ensuring they leave education ready for work. We will establish Skills England, a new national body tasked with driving forward a national ambition to meet the skills needs of the next decade.

And we will introduce new Technical Excellence Colleges, a network of specialised colleges stretching across the country to meet the skills needs of local businesses and communities.

It’s time to turn the page on the Government’s failed approach which has led to declining apprenticeship opportunities and falling participation in vocational and skills training. Labour’s reforms will boost the talents and abilities of the British people so we can strengthen our economy and face the future.