By Marino Donati | 13 November 2014
A new national database of apprenticeships and other employer-led courses and training opportunities for over-16s will be launched in England next year, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has revealed.
Setting out the government’s progress in boosting apprenticeship numbers to two million since 2010, Clegg said the database, to be in place by next September, would be a ‘one-stop-shop’ for school leavers to find out opportunities outside of universities.
He highlighted that in the four years before 2010, 928,800 people began an apprenticeship compared to 1,984,900, over the past 4 years.
Announcing the database at Skills Show in Birmingham, he added: ‘While it is truly exciting to be able to celebrate the tide turning with wider-ranging opportunities for our school leavers aside from university, we also need to do more to show young people all of the doors open to them.
‘By giving every 16-year-old access to a one stop shop for the growing number of choices they have, more young people will be able to access the options available to them and make better informed choices about their career paths.’
