@ASollowayUK has become the latest minister to visit the AMRC. I yield to nobody in my admiration for the AMRC and, in particular, its superb apprenticeship training programme. It serves a really important role in training skilled technicians to deploy new technology. https://twitter.com/TheAMRC/status/1293558040462008323

But does the minister realise that the AMRC is an outlier amongst the Catapult Centres in terms of its engagement with apprenticeships? None of the others do as much; and most do a lot less (see pp. 28-29 of https://www.gatsby.org.uk/uploads/education/technicians-and-innovation.pdf).

Has she asked why the AMRC's efforts have not been replicated elsewhere? Has she considered the incentives, created by government, that discourage all-too-many Catapults from training the skilled technicians industry needs to deploy new technologies?

Policies that encourage the Catapults to engage seriously with training can make a real difference (for an example, see https://twitter.com/PaulLew16394851/status/1278250284356116482?s=20) As @RichardALJones has written, Catapults need to be “given a more explicit mandate to embrace technical training in their missions."

The HVMC is doing important work on this (see https://hvm.catapult.org.uk/mtfw/ ). Also see section 5 of this https://www.gatsby.org.uk/uploads/education/technicians-and-innovation.pdf But they need clear, consistent incentives that encourage and enable them to ensure that workforce development is put on a par with technology development.

Will the government step up to support the efforts of Catapults, and other Centres of Innovation, to train workers to fill the high-quality, high-wage jobs created by emerging technologies? @ersatzben @AtheneDonald @GatsbyEd @HVM_Catapult @stianwestlake @racheljanetwolf