EXCLUSIVE: Lord Blunkett hints at Labour reforming the Levy

Lord David Blunkett hints that the Labour party is considering turning the £3 billion per annum Apprenticeship Levy into a wider “learning levy.”

Former education secretary, Lord Blunkett, has exclusively revealed, during an interview with the Skills World Live Radio Show, that the Labour party is considering turning the £3 billion per annum Apprenticeship Levy into a wider “learning levy.”

In a wide ranging interview with presenter Tom Bewick, Blunkett revealed that he was in close touch with Sir Keir Starmer and Labour’s front bench team, as part of a “counsel of skills advisers”, saying:

“We will obviously be able to use the apprenticeship levy more imaginatively, creatively, as a learning levy.”

Blunkett added that it was time to propose “changes that are radical, but doable”, saying that the planned changes are being finalised in the party’s policy paper on skills policy which will help inform Labour’s manifesto at the next election. The paper is due to be discussed at the Labour party conference, 25-28 September 2022.

The latest polling data suggests that if there were a general election tomorrow, Labour would emerge as the largest single party in Parliament, just 23 seats short of an overall majority. In the polls, Labour are recording their highest positive figures since 2013, as the Conservative party goes through its own internal machinations to select the next leader and UK prime minister.

To hear other revelations from Lord Blunkett about lifelong learning policy and his time in the Blair government; his battles with the Treasury over individual learning accounts (ILAs); and what he really thinks about T levels; don’t forget to tune in at 4pm on FE News Friday 15 July, for what promises to be an extremely interesting, revealing and informative interview.

Catch up later at www.skillsworldlive.com or where you usually get your podcasts.