Aspiration Training hosted a number of virtual roundtables with Ministers and MPs for our employers and other key stakeholders as part of National Apprenticeship Week 2021.

The roundtables were organised as a celebration of all the amazing work being done by employers and apprentices across the country, our aim was to recognise how employers of all sizes have stepped up to the challenge during this unprecedented time and highlight the work being done across the whole apprenticeship community to promote apprenticeships and their impact.

Held over two days during National Apprenticeship Week, we hosted four virtual roundtable events with:

• Gavin Williamson – Secretary of state for Education and MP for South Staffordshire
• Toby Perkins – Shadow Minister for Apprenticeships and Lifelong Learning & Labour Member of Parliament for Chesterfield
• Jack Lopresti – Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Apprenticeships & MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke
• Robin Walker – MP for Worcester

The roundtables included representatives from Awarding Organisations and employers as well as providers, and each benefited from being relatively small, allowing good time for discussion and for the Ministers to both hear views and respond to them.

Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education, was clear that technical vocational and training must be at the heart of the country’s economic recovery plan, and believed that the importance of skills was being recognised in DfE and indeed across government in a way that had not previously been seen before.

The Minister finished by saying that “Secretaries of State can’t just create apprenticeships” and without the hard work and dedication of everyone in the sector acting as the sales force and evangelists for their benefits, and for the benefits of technical training in general, very little would be achieved at all. He therefore extended a heartfelt thanks to everyone for their hard work and continuing dedication to the cause.