The five-point plan from Lord Knight and Lord Willetts, with support from charity EngineeringUK, was launched following an inquiry looking into the “worrying decline” in apprenticeships in recent years. 

Despite a modest uptick in numbers last year, engineering-related apprenticeship starts in England are still 9 per cent lower than in 2014/15. The uptake varies by subject, but engineering and manufacturing technologies in particular have seen a 34 per cent decline.

Lord Knight, who co-chaired the inquiry and is a former education minister for Labour, said: “Despite 20 years of reviews and reform, Britain is lagging behind our competitors in developing the skilled workforce we need to engineer a prosperous future. 

“This failure to better link schools and skills wastes the great potential of our young people. I hope this bold and practical set of recommendations will be listened to by policymakers and practitioners and finally fix this problem.”

The inquiry...