Commenting on Labour’s Council of Skills Advisors report, Muniya Barua, Deputy Chief Executive at 91, said:
“With skills shortages rife across the economy, Labour has put forward a package of measures which will tick many boxes for businesses – from the focus on lifelong learning to devolving more funding and decision making powers to regions so they can target spending where it’s needed.
“A trained careers leader in every school will go a long way to addressing the lack of high-quality advice available to young people, but in the capital what’s really needed is a London-wide service to get people of all ages into the jobs that businesses are creating.
“Labour is right to recognise that the apprenticeship levy doesn’t work as well as it could and to allow firms to transfer more of their funds to smaller businesses. It should go further by allowing employers to use some of their levy on pre-employment training and towards the wage costs of new apprentices from priority groups.”