At a conference this week Conservative Shadow Minister; John Hayes, once again put apprenticeships at the heart of Conservative skills policy. Again, he outlined a progressive ladder for apprenticeships, moving from pre-apprenticeship, through levels 2 and 3, to a new ‘Advanced level’ covering level 4, possibly level 5. In response to his presentation ALP Chief Executive, Graham Hoyle, welcomed the outline presented, not least of all, the near identical proposal for four tiers of Apprenticeship as set out in ALP’s earlier policy paper.
Despite openly admitting his ‘support for colleges’, John also confirmed future support for independent providers – large and small – giving credit to Graham and ALP for their continuous "eloquent, persuasive and seductive arguments.
*Source: ALP Newsletter, Issue 462