NEW ANALYSIS: Apprenticeships down 18.4% in South Cambridgeshire since 2015

New analysis from South Cambridgeshire Labour reveals apprenticeships have fallen 18.4% in South Cambridgeshire since 2015, as Labour sets out its plan to boost skills and drive economic growth.

Apprenticeship starts have fallen from 870 in 2015/16 to just 710 in 2022/23 in South Cambridgeshire in the latest figures (source: GOV.UK Explore Education Statistics, Apprenticeships and traineeships). To reverse this downwards trend Labour will train over a thousand new careers advisors to provide professional advice and guidance at schools and colleges, alongside high-quality work experience for young people.

As part of a wider package of reform, Labour will establish Skills England, a new national body tasked with driving forward an ambition to meet the skills needs of the next decade. This will be driven by pushing power and decisions on skills spending out from Westminster to local communities, so those communities can better match up skills training with their local business needs and grow local and regional economies.

South Cambridgeshire Labour’s Luke Viner said:

“Families in South Cambridgeshire want to see their children do well and get on – and apprenticeships are a great route to doing exactly that. But under the Conservatives fewer and fewer young people are able to find opportunities to take up a place. They have been let down by successive Conservative governments.

“Labour will reverse this trend, giving businesses the flexibility they need to train people up with new skills from digital technologies, to the green skills needed to tackle climate change.”

Bridget Phillipson MP, Shadow Education Secretary, said:

“Despite their rhetoric, the Tories have overseen a decade of decline in skills and training opportunities which is holding Britain back.

“From digital to green skills, childcare to social care, Labour will harness the talents and abilities of the British people so we can strengthen our economy and break down barriers to opportunity.

“More training opportunities so people can gain new skills, access better jobs and grow our economy. That’s the difference a Labour government will make.”