UCAS should be the “principal route” into apprenticeships to ensure they were as “accessible and credible” as universities, Lord Adonis told a packed conference.

The organisation responsible for managing applications to higher education was “up for it” if the government was, said the Labour politician, and academic during a speech at Unionlearn’s annual apprenticeship conference to mark National Apprenticeship Week.

“I don’t think there is a single thing that deserves more attention in this country than apprenticeships,” he told delegates.

“We need a revolution in apprenticeships as we did in schools in the late 1980s. We now have a schools system of which we can be very proud — we will only have achieved this in apprenticeships when there are as many available as there are higher education places.”

Young people wanted to “earn and learn” not “beg and borrow”, he said, comparing the earning power of apprentices with the debts incurred by students on university courses.

His message to the government was clear — that it should lead by example.

“In the whole time I was in government I don’t recall ever having an under 21-year-old working for me. The jobs didn’t require graduate skills, so what was happening,” said Lord Adonis

Last year, half of 16 government departments had no apprentices and, of those that did, none was under 21. The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills had just one apprentice.

He urged the civil service to create more apprenticeship opportunities, adding that of about 800,000 school leavers, on average 300,000 went on to university, with just 129,000 taking up apprenticeships [last year], leaving “hundreds of thousands” not going into any form of training.

“If UCAS were the apprenticeships and university route you might get people applying for both,” he said.

A spokesperson for UCAS told FE Week it was  “happy to consider ways” to “add value” to the apprenticeship application process but that it had not received any request from the government to explore this.

Gila Sacks, head of the apprenticeship unit at BIS, told the conference that the government had responded “very positively” to entrepreneur Doug Richard’s well-documented report into apprenticeships.

It must work to “increase awareness” of apprenticeships, although this had already started as schools now had to provide independent information, advice and guidance on careers.

She said the results of a consultation on how this was working would be reported in June and urged members of the sector to put forward their views.

Four young apprentices spoke at the event, highlighting the best bits of their vocational route.

Kirsty Downs, a business administration apprentice at St Edmundsbury Borough Council, said she had been taking a gap year and was about to start university when she was offered the training opportunity.

“They give me study time for my foundation degree. Rather than getting in debt and partying at university, I earn money and spend it on what I want while getting experience doing events organising, which I was going to study at university,” the 21-year-old from Suffolk told delegates.

“I love my apprenticeship and my friends who’ve gone to university are jealous.”

More than 800 events took place around the country throughout the sixth National Apprenticeship Week. Highlights included a job swap between FE minister Matthew Hancock and Jenny Westworth, a former BAE apprentice who now works on the final assembly line for the Typhoon aircraft at her factory near Preston, and young apprentices meeting David Cameron at No 10 to discuss workplace training.

Caption for featured picture: Lord Adonis (centre) meeting with apprentices. From left: Charlotte Appleyard, 22 Kirsty Downs and Claire Cordon, both 21

The Prime Minister wants apprenticeships to become the “new norm for young people,” with work-based training sitting “at the heart of our mission to rebuild the economy”.

Speaking at a Buckinghamshire training academy during the sixth National Apprenticeship Week, he called on employers, educators and MPs to expand apprenticeships for young people.

“They are at the heart of our mission to rebuild the economy, giving young people the chance to learn a trade, to build their careers, and create a truly world-class, high-skilled workforce that can compete and thrive in the fierce global race that we are in,” said David Cameron.

“We need to challenge ourselves to go even further — that is why I want it to be the new norm for young people to either go to university or into an apprenticeship.

“We need to look at how we can expand apprenticeship opportunities so that they are available to all young people who are ready and eager to take them up, and aspire to get ahead in life.”

Martin Doel, chief executive of Association of Colleges, said his members would “happily meet the extra demand”.

“There are obviously questions around how the new expanded apprenticeships will be funded and who will take ownership of them,” he said. “To that end, we will work with government to establish the best way forward.”

This is a key test for ministers at a time when there are almost one million young people out of work”

Graham Hoyle, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), also said that his group was “ready to respond” to the government’s call.

“With AELP members already delivering over 70 per cent of apprenticeships in England, independent training providers are ready to respond to the Prime Minister’s call by lending their frontline expertise on how to develop, improve and increase the number of apprenticeships,” he said.

He added that the AELP was pushing for at least one teacher from every secondary school to undertake work experience with a provider and go on to champion apprenticeships within their school.

Meanwhile, Shadow FE Minister Gordon Marsden argued in Parliament that public procurement funds should be used to boost apprenticeships.

“Labour has demanded the government uses the money that it already spends on public procurement to create new apprenticeship opportunities,” he said.

He claimed that for every £1m spent on public procurement, at least one apprenticeship should be created.

“This sort of approach is essential to help the economy grow, if we are to compete as a country,” he told MPs.

He said Sheffield City Council had identified that it could create 233 places for apprenticeships through public procurement.

“This approach has won the backing of the Business, Innovation and Skills committee and builds on what Labour did in government to ensure that apprenticeships were offered on the delivery of the Olympic Park and Crossrail, while Labour local authorities are also leading the way in using procurement to boost apprenticeships,” said Mr Marsden.

“FE Minister Matthew Hancock has frequently talked of how apprenticeships are at the heart of his government’s skills strategy.

“If that is indeed the case, why won’t he give them a much-needed shot in the arm and back our sensible proposals to use the money government already spends to boost apprenticeship numbers?”

He said Labour leader Ed Miliband had outlined “the real difference” that the plan would make in creating 33,000 new apprenticeships.

“This is a key test for ministers at a time when there are almost one million young
people out of work and the number of apprenticeships for 16 to 18-year-olds has fallen,” he added.

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And the prize for hardest working politician this week goes to Matthew Hancock.

The FE Minister was up at 5.30am filleting fish at Billingsgate market with apprentices in East London before dashing off to take part in events throughout the day, finally making an appearance on BBC’s News Night at 11.30pm.

In an effort to scale back on the fish puns FE Week just wanted to say: “Well done Mr Hancock, you reelly busted a gut during National Apprenticeship Week.”

The first  traineeships, the new government programme targeted at young people to help them acquire work-related skills and attitudes, are on track to  start in September this year,  says FE minister Matthew Hancock.

He told training providers, business leaders, apprentices and awarding bodies at a Voice of Apprentices conference in London last week that the traineeships were a “personal priority”.

Several of the 300 delegates raised concerns around the implementation of the traineeships, their purpose and what they would mean for apprenticeships.

Mr Hancock said that traineeships were a “very important part of the picture”.

“This is a personal priority of mine as minister. Traineeships are an important part of work to increase the rigour and quality of apprenticeships. We need to ensure that we provide a provision for those that need support to get a job, to get into the position of applying and holding down that job,” he said.

“We have been very consultative around the introduction of traineeships. I know that there is plenty of good practice out there from many providers and I acknowledge there is lots that I still am not aware of.

“But let me be clear, I don’t want to get in the way of this good provision. I want to support it through traineeships and bring together some of the different strands under an umbrella that also supports progression into apprenticeships and into a job.

“The timings are tight for their implementation, but they will form an integral part of the future architecture of apprenticeships.”

The minister also promised a further immediate consultation.

The forthcoming consultation will more or less explain how we will do it ”

“Our first consultation, launched earlier this year in January, looked at what we wanted to do and posed questions about how we might achieve this. The forthcoming consultation will more or less explain how we will do it and ask the sector for comments on those plans, he said.

“I am very keen that we consult a wide and varying audience on how we design and build, what I think is a very important improvement.”

The Voice of Apprentices conference, the third of its kind and the largest yet, celebrated  apprenticeships and the positive effect they have on individuals and business.

It was chaired by FE Week editor Nick Linford and included more than 24 speakers from across FE and industry, including several apprentices.

During the various presentations and Q&A sessions, delegates and speakers shared their experiences of apprenticeships and their concerns and questions for their future.

This year’s conference, organised by Lindsay McCurdy of Apprenticeships 4 England, was held at the capital’s Tower Hotel.