To mark the occasion, Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills, Gillian Keegan announced new sector specific traineeship pilots in construction and rail which will start this summer. Analysis by UCAS revealed that over half (54%) of parents and carers they surveyed said that their child had considered an apprenticeship rather than a traditional university degree. Meanwhile, the Labour Party reiterated its call for the Government to use a wage subsidy to create new apprenticeships. Shadow Education Secretary Kate Green and Shadow FE and Skills Minister Toby Perkins called on the Government to use unspent funds from the apprenticeships levy to fund 85,000 new apprenticeships for 16-24 year-olds this year.

Elsewhere, the Public Accounts Committee has launched a new inquiry on the impact of COVID-19 on schools The Committee will question senior officials at DfE on how well it managed its overall response in the first lockdown.

DfE announced new teaching school hubs to go live in September in support of new and existing members of the profession.

Finally, research by NEON suggests proposed reforms to Level 3 qualifications may set back efforts to widen access to higher education by at least five years.