The government will miss its target of 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2020, the education secretary has admitted.
Speaking in front of the Commons Education Select Committee this morning, Damian Hinds said the target, which was a Conservative manifesto pledge, "will not be reached".
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Pressed by committee chair Robert Halfon on whether the target was "still on", he said: "In terms of sheer volume, no'. He explained apprenticeships had changed following the government's reform programme, and were now of higher quality and tailored to employer need. And while the target of 3 million starts will be reached, this would not be in time for the 2020 deadline.
The target has been in doubt from the outset, and following a dramatic drop in the number of apprenticeship starts in the months after the introduction of the apprenticeship levy, rhetoric from the Department for Education had focused on the quality, rather than quantity, of apprenticeships being created.
In March, the National Audit Office said the rate of apprenticeship starts would have to double for the government to meet its target by 2020, and the government had some way to go to make sure resources are being used to best effect. The NAO raised concerns about the long-term financial sustainability of the apprenticeship programme.
Last November, apprenticeship and skills minister Anne Milton said the government’s commitment to creating 3 million apprenticeships in the current Parliament had not been abandoned. She said that while she wouldn't "sacrifice quality for numbers”, it was important to have a “stretching”, aspirational target – even if it would be “difficult to achieve”.
