WEEKLY COLUMN BY Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie 

I have been pushing for Apprenticeship Levy reform to cut costs and bureaucracy on behalf of Stroud district businesses and it looks like we had a win this week.

The Prime Minister announced on Monday the government will fully fund apprenticeships in small businesses from 1st April and pay the full cost of training for anyone up to the age of 21.

There will also be an increase in the amount of funding that employers paying the Apprenticeship Levy can pass onto other businesses. 

This means large employers can transfer up to 50 per cent of their funds to support other businesses to take on apprenticeships. This will help SMEs get the skilled workers they need.

The upshot is these reforms will create up to 20,000 more apprenticeship places and cut red tape and costs for thousands of small businesses – something our local entrepreneurs have asked to make happen. I want to see the details and how it operates but I am really hopeful for our local businesses, particularly the small manufacturing and creative companies.

The announcement came on the back of the PM visiting SGS Berkeley Green last week where he met with apprentices, staff and students.

He was very impressed with what he saw.

I have talked to the PM a lot about skills and apprenticeship so it was a pleasure to invite him to come.

As many know, I didn’t go to university. I qualified to be a solicitor by studying at night school, so I understand the importance of vocational learning and I am passionate about it in my role as a further education ambassador.

University Technical Colleges like Berkeley Green are at the cutting edge of the vocational courses the country needs in the traditional STEM subjects and as the new green skills economy starts to flourish in nuclear and renewables.

Without the teaching of STEM subjects, particularly mechanical and electrical engineering, our economy both locally and nationally is going to suffer.

The ambition now is to get the Severn Edge small modular reactor (SMR) project landed with Bristol university and Rolls-Royce. This would mean ready-made clean energy learning and apprenticeship training on our doorstep