Prime Minister Keir Starmer generated plenty of headlines at the Labour Party conference in late September when he set a new target of two-thirds of young people completing some form of higher level learning beyond school or college.

Rather than hitting this target purely by expanding university degrees, the government has set an extra sub-target of ensuring that by 2040 at least 10% of young people pursue higher technical education or apprenticeships by age 25, a near doubling of today’s figure.

However, as two new reports from the Edge Foundation explained earlier in September, young people can face many barriers when trying to access apprenticeships, while employers can face many barriers when trying to recruit young apprentices, particularly small and medium-sized companies - often known as SMEs.

So what are the barriers facing young people and employers? Should tackling these barriers be a local, regional or national responsibility? And is more funding the key to unlocking more apprenticeships for young people, or are there better solutions out there?

My guests are Anna Ambrose, the Chief Executive of the charity Workwhile, and Katy Dorman, the Apprenticeship Strategy Manager at Norfolk County Council.

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