Prime Minister Andy Burnham new policy to put technical skills on a parity with degrees is music to the ears of industry and further education in Liverpool city region with local businesses praising the move. Tony McDonough reports

 

Speaking to LBN in October 2025 City of Liverpool College chief executive Elaine Bowker spoke of her frustration that too many parents are still pushing their kids to university instead of technical apprenticeships.

Now new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has signalled a sea change in Government policy on education and skills. Mr Burnham said: “From today, Britain will value the hard hat every bit as much as the graduation cap.

He promised an education system based on “parity between academic and technical which gives all young people a clear path in life”.

“My message to young people is this – whether you choose construction, coding or classics, or maths, manufacturing or mechanics, you’ll get the skills you need and be given the respect you deserve,” he added:

Mr Burnham said technical education would be put on an equal footing with the academic path, with Year 10 students, those aged 14, to be given the chance to combine core academic subjects, such as English, maths and science, with technical education linked to jobs in their area and involving experience in local workplaces.

He also announced plans to offer a bursary of up to £4,500 to help teenagers in universal credit households get an apprenticeship.

In 2025 the City of Liverpool College opened a new multi-million pound academy for construction skills at Collingwood Dock within Liverpool Waters, close to the Everton FC’s Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Supported by local employers the academy will cater for 600 students a year. It will provide training programmes and apprenticeships for people wishing to enter the construction industry as well as those wishing to upskill.

It will focus on three priority skills areas: green technologies in construction; retrofit skills for existing housing stock and; skills for new homebuilding.

At the time of the launch Elaine Bowker told LBN: “Sadly, I still think parents who care deeply about their children still give a lot of bad advice. They tell their children ‘get as many GCSEs as you can, get your A Levels and then go to university. We hear that every day.

“But the economy has changed so much and it is actually people who choose technical skills who are getting their first-choice jobs. The economy is geared up towards technical and professional level 3 and level 4 skills and that is where we operate.

“Automation and AI means there are fewer jobs in some sectors so we are seeing more students who want to set up their own businesses. That is what we are geared towards and there are skills that are very difficult to replace with AI.”

 

 

Dave Bracegirdle, construction director at Liverpool building firm Frank Rogers, has long been vocal on the need to prioritise skills for construction as a matter of urgency. Frank Rogers is one of the backers of the college’s academy.

In 2025 the business joined more than 1,000 UK employers in committing to training its future workforce by joining the 5% Club – an industry-led initiative committed to investing in the next generation through ‘earn and learn’ opportunities.

It represents a commitment from employers in the sector to recruit apprentices, graduates, T-Level students, and sponsored students. But Dave has always maintained that Government must do more if the UK is to meet its construction target and has strongly welcomed Andy Burnham’s latest announcement.

He told LBN: “This feels like a bit of a breakthrough moment. The message from Government has been ‘build build build’ but you can’t do that without a skilled workforce”

“Burnham has appointed Angela Rayner as the new housing minister, and she has reaffirmed the commitment to build 1.5m new homes during this parliament. That is now a big ask.

“This is not about choosing higher education over vocational skills, or vice versa. We need a balanced economy supported by a broad range of talents and pathways. For too long, technical education has been undervalued, overlooked and treated as a second-tier option.

“But that hands-on learning is important in our industry. At Frank Rogers we are delivering a growing number of high-value, often complex projects across a range of sectors.

“And we rely on skilled tradespeople, experienced site teams and specialists who understand increasingly complex requirements, both on and off site – and the worry is that those are becoming more difficult to find.

“Construction is crying out for skilled people and if this latest move motivates more young people to take up careers in the sector, then that will be a huge boost for the firms like ours, and for the UK economy.”

 

 

Construction isn’t the only sector with a skills shortage. According to Make UK, the representative body of the manufacturing sector, 36% of manufacturing vacancies are proving hard to fill, compared to an average of 24% across all industries.

Phil McDonald is the managing director of Bootle window and door maker Warwick North West. The firm employs around 120 people at its factory close to Liverpool’s northern docklands and he says recruitment and training is a constant challenge.

“Over the past five years we have experienced significant growth and in the last two years we have seen an increasing volume of business coming from the social and affordable housing sector.

“Our windows and doors offer high levels of thermal efficiency and in an era of net zero and high fuel bills that is a plus.

“To keep up with that growing demand we have invested £1m into new machinery, and we have made efforts to expand and upskill our workforce accordingly. But recruitment is an ongoing challenge.

“What I like about the Prime Minister’s proposals is the focus on engaging young people earlier and giving them genuine choices about their future careers.

“It also positively promotes the idea that vocational education, as opposed to university, is actually the right path for many young people, and can help build rewarding and successful careers.

“I completed an apprenticeship myself 32 years ago at Hugh Baird College in Bootle, just down the road from where we are today.

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“It gave me not only the technical skills I needed, but also valuable life lessons that prepared me for what has so far been a thoroughly fulfilling career in trades and manufacturing.

“Warwick has a track record of giving people from all sections of the community a real chance, and so the idea of a steady stream of young people ready to join the workforce over the next few years is very appealing.”