In evidence submitted to the education, skills and the economy sub-committee’s apprenticeships inquiry, the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission said the number of young people undertaking and completing apprenticeships has fallen recently, and government plans to boost numbers will not improve the quality of placements.
It has called for “renewed focus” on youth apprenticeships being “an engine of social mobility”.
The government aims to improve vocational options for young people and has pledged to increase the number of apprenticeships by 30,000 over the next four years.
But the commission said rather than increasing the number of apprenticeships overall, the plan needs to focus on giving greater priority to the proportion of apprenticeships that provide a clear route to improving a young person's social mobility.
Data from the commission suggests there were around 1,000 fewer young adults aged 19 to 24 starting apprenticeships in 2014/15 compared with 2011/12.
There has also been an increase in the number of young people who don't complete their apprenticeship.
The commission's figures show the average rate of completion in 2013/14 was 68.9 per cent compared with 76.4 per cent in 2010/11.
The commission has recommended that the government:
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