Halfon wants ‘skills, skills, skills’ for recovery

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Apprenticeships must be “front and centre” of plans to boost skills in the post-Covid recovery, says Robert Halfon, chair of the education select committee.

But he wants the funding levy for apprenticeships to be better targeted at young people and the disadvantaged.

And he called for a big increase in degree apprenticeships in universities.

Mr Halfon said there needed to be “skills, skills, skills” as much as “education, education, education”.

With the government expected to announce a major investment in skills and training to recover from the pandemic, Mr Halfon called for apprenticeships to be made the cornerstone.

In a speech to the Edge vocational education charity, he called for a “recasting…