When Gordon Marsden, MP for Blackpool South and Shadow Minister for Education asked the current Government Minister for Education who is responsible for apprenticeships a question on Monday, the response was less than open and honest. His question was:

“How can the Minister talk confidently about FE provision when the Government’s whole record on the sector is a mess? In the last 10 days, we have seen: apprenticeship starts down by 41% since the levy began; traineeship starts down by 16%; the FE commissioner telling the Select Committee on Education that funding is “unfair” and “sparse”; the Public Accounts Committee roasting the Government over learndirect; and five sector leaders calling for a major levy rethink in FE Week. Will she get a grip on the levy? Will she also ensure that she does not claim that those concerned are running FE down? We are passionate about FE and apprenticeships; it is her party that is split on HE and FE policy.”

The Minister he was speaking to was Anne Milton who is the MP for Guildford. Her response was

“I utterly reject the hon. Gentleman’s suggestion that the situation is a mess. This is the first time that a Government have really got to grips with this issue. I will be running a training session for Members from all political parties. I suggest that the hon. Gentleman comes along to discover that it is very easy to get apprenticeships if we do not care about the quality, but I do care about the quality. It is really important that we raise the quality and raise the numbers, ensuring that young people have the skills they need for the future.”

Now to put this into context, although Anne was not responsible for apprenticeships when the Apprenticeship Levy was introduced back in April 2017, her tenure does extend almost that far back (she was appointed after the June election) and if she is suggesting that the quality of apprenticeships is only just improving (and hence the 41% drop is partly a response to that change) then what was happening between 2010 and 2017 that her government and the coalition got wrong? No one would argue with the need for getting things right, but they first young people eligible for apprenticeships in July 2010 will now be close to the age of 25 so in effect this is already a generation that has moved on. It is vital that someone will stand up and be honest or else the prospect for future generations will become damaged as a result.