Newcastle North MP, Catherine McKinnell has called on the Government to increase its support for apprenticeships, after a new report highlighted a lack of apprenticeships in the UK which could leave us trailing behind our international competitors.

A report by the Centre for Economic Performance, based at the London School of Economics, finds there are only 11 apprenticeships for every 1,000 employees in the workforce, compared with 40 European counterparts in Germany and 39 in Australia. The massive demand for apprenticeships in the UK was highlighted by a recent apprenticeships recruitment campaign by BT where 24,000 applications for just 221 apprenticeship places, an increase of 266%.

Catherine McKinnell MP says “This report highlights the clear need for more opportunities for apprenticeships in the UK. The Labour Government increased the number of available apprenticeships by almost 100,000 and the Coalition Government have said they are committed to continuing this work. The Government needs to back the “Apprenticeships Bill” that I am putting through Parliament to make sure that every pound of public money goes to help create such opportunities.”
The full report can be seen at http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/special/cepsp22.pdf