Business groups urge apprenticeship reform as GSCE results roll in. The government should listen

The number of starts has been falling

What next for GSCE students? Business groups say the Apprenticeship Levy needs reform to encourage higher take up (iStock)

Got your GCSE results? Scratching your head about what do to next? How about an apprenticeship?

The Federation of Small Businesses took the opportunity of the results' publication to urge more students to consider the option after they've worked out what they mean (what with the new grading system and all).

The ability to "earn while you learn" ought to be an attractive alternative to building up a debt pile that will look positively Himalayan before they’ve earned so much as a defunct copper penny at the end of the traditional A Level and degree route.

But the number of starts has been declining and the Fed highlighted that last week’s figures showed that there have been just 1.4m cumulatively since May 2015.

It says that for the government to hit the 3m target set out in the 2017 Conservative manifesto, and the Welfare Reform & Work Act 2016, 71,000 new ones a month will be required.

The current run rate is bouncing around between 20,000 and 30,000 a month. So the government is about as likely to achieve its stated aim as Boris Johnson is to say, “you know what, I’m getting bored of all this attention. I think I’ll do Britain and the world a favour by going to live on a deserted island without any cameras around for the next thirty years”.

Both the Fed, and the CBI, have reiterated longstanding calls for reform of the Apprenticeship Levy their members pay, and of the policy surrounding it that, so far, haven't got much of a hearing.

Earlier this year the Apprenticeships & Skills minister Anne Milton said she wasn’t going to apologise for “our ambition to make sure that everyone, regardless of their background, can access high quality apprenticeship opportunities”.

And nor should she. In a country in which business has too often failed to invest sufficiently in training, forcing them to do so via the levy is no bad thing.

But there are clearly problems with the way the system is operating, and the number of starts is dismal. Ms Milton says getting 3m in place by 2020 remains “our ambition” but that she will not “sacrifice quality over quantity”. Again, that's fair enough.

She also says that “things are moving in the right direction with the number of people starting on our new, higher-quality apprenticeships rising significantly”.

That's where things start getting questionable.

It is true that the 3m target was wildly over ambitious in the first place, and I'm not going to overly criticise Ms Milton for what looks like an attempt to shift the goalposts. But the policy could and should be doing a lot better.

The concerns raised by the CBI and the Fed about poor regulation and an overly bureaucratic and inflexible system are legitimate. A stubborn refusal to heed them is doing a disservice not just to business and the UK economy, but to all those head scratching teenagers. They would all benefit with the right framework in place. The minister would do well to recognise that.