Last week marked National Apprenticeship Week, and I was lucky enough to be invited to the 2025 Truro and Penwith College Apprenticeship Awards at the Eden Project. The awards cover a range of professional categories including construction, engineering, management, marketing and business. It really is a showcase of the Duchy's proud history of graft and innovation and it was a pleasure to attend and a great opportunity to celebrate apprentices and the impact they have on our community, local businesses, and the wider economy. It was also a pleasure to be able to present an award to an apprentice at Falmouth Town Council, having been a Falmouth town councillor myself.

I’m also pleased this government marked National Apprenticeship Week not just with words, but action. Labour’s reforms, announced last week, will unlock thousands of apprenticeships in the region by slimming down bureaucratic burdens. A new foundation apprenticeship will offer pre-apprenticeship training to young people who aren’t yet ready to start a level two or three apprenticeship: the ladder and the chance to gain valuable work experience, learning as they go. Also, as it stands, anyone taking an apprenticeship of level two or higher needs to successfully pass their GCSE English and maths qualifications before they can successfully complete their apprenticeship. Labour will remove this requirement for adults aged 19-plus. While a new app will provide tools and support. These reforms could unlock apprenticeships for up to 10,000 more young people with the support of businesses.

There will also be a boost to vital industries, like the green sector, something that's very close to my heart as someone who is pushing hard for offshore wind in the Celtic Sea with all the skilled jobs that it could bring to young people in the area. Apprenticeships don't only lead to work and a career. They give our young people a purpose and direction in life.

That's why I'm so pleased to see that the first set of statistics under the new Labour government saw an increase in apprenticeship starts, participation and achievement compared to the same period under the Conservatives. Here, in Truro and Falmouth, that meant 840 apprentices currently on their course, with 50 having recently completed and 210 beginning their apprenticeship journey between August-October 2024. There's still much to do but that's a great start.

Fortunately, we have amazing local further education providers. Cornwall College including Falmouth Marine School and Truro & Penwith College, which is one of only five FE Colleges in the UK to have been awarded ‘Expert Apprenticeship Provider’ status by the Department for Education (DfE).

In Cornwall we rely on these colleges and FE providers need the ability to scale up in conjunction with industry. Labour government's recent reforms will help them shape that path. Young people are the future. Let's help them get there.

Jayne Kirkham, Labour MP for Truro and Falmouth