Government are obsessing over arbitrary targets for apprenticeship starts but doing nothing to ensure the right outcomes for learners – Gordon Marsden

Gordon Marsden
MP, Labour’s Shadow Skills Minister, commenting on a report from a sub-committee of the Education and
Business Select Committee, claiming that the Government’s apprenticeship levy
lacks focus and targets the wrong industries, said:

“Today’s
report confirms what Labour have been saying all along, that while the Government
are obsessing over reaching an arbitrary target for apprenticeship starts, they
are doing nothing to ensure the right outcomes for learners.

"The
fact that the Government’s approach lacks focus and targets the wrong
industries shows that they have failed to develop an industrial strategy worthy
of the name, and can only offer headline chasing gimmicks instead.

"Closing the skills gap and giving young people and older
learners the skills they need should be essential to securing our post-Brexit
future, yet once again this Government have nothing serious to offer
the country.”