Birmingham MP - and candidate for West Midlands Mayor - Liam Byrne has called on ministers to provide an urgent action plan to stem the collapsing number of apprenticeships across the West Midlands.

The call followed a round table discussion to mark the beginning of National Apprenticeship week, with Shadow Apprenticeships minister Toby Perkins MP alongside employers and apprentices. The panel heard first hand from apprentices about the positive difference apprenticeships can make, but how employers need more support to take on young people and the removal of red tape. 
 
New figures revealed that apprenticeship numbers across the region fell by 40% between 2015/16 and 2019/20 (before the Covid-19 crisis started) and are estimated to have fallen a further 31% since then. In the same period, national rates dropped by just 27.6%. Mr Byrne said:

"We are the youngest region in Europe. We should therefore become the best place in Europe to be young. But right now our young people feel they have had the rug pulled from under them, with the exams fiasco, huge cuts to youth services, and sky-high youth unemployment.

"Now we learn that apprenticeship numbers are collapsing just as employers are complaining about skills gaps, including in industries of the future like green technology. We cannot go on like this. Our young people are our future. We need to give them the tools they need to build that future."