Minister for Skills Alex Burghart has written to all apprenticeship providers, setting an ambition for apprenticeship achievements to reach 67% by 2025. The Minister has detailed his vision for the next steps on apprenticeship quality in his letter to all apprenticeship providers. The letter outlines that as we move into the 2022/23 academic year, it is now time to focus efforts on driving up achievements as far as possible, to ensure that apprenticeships are delivering the maximum value to those who undertake them, their employers, and to the labour market more widely.
The Minister outlined that he sees the work needed to move towards this achievement rate ambition as a joint effort and expressed his interest in hearing from providers on where barriers or issues may exist, and where further support may be needed. He also explained plans to launch a new exit feedback tool for non-completing apprentices, to give a richer understanding of the reasons for non-completion, with the aim that in time the tool will evolve to better predict those at risk of withdrawal allowing targeted, direct support as needed to help support achievements.
The Minister also made a speech at the AELP conference on Monday 27 June, emphasising his thanks for all the work providers and employers are undertaking to support apprentices at all stages of their journey, particularly during the extremely difficult circumstances throughout the pandemic. His speech also emphasised the importance of achievement and the huge advantages it brings to apprentices in terms of future earnings and employment prospects.
