Apprentices need higher skills and better job prospects, a new report has concluded. The report by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics says that successive British governments have committed substantial public resources to apprentice training, but that too few young people benefit and not enough high value skills have been developed.

Key findings of the report on apprenticeship policy in England are:

• government agencies and private providers have been used to designing apprenticeship programmes and procuring places, and a substantial proportion of government funding for apprenticeship training is swallowed up by the processes required to account for it
• this model deters employers and stifles the growth of apprenticeships. Fewer than one in ten employers in England trains apprentices, compared with a quarter or more in countries where the apprenticeship system works well, for example, Germany, Austria and Switzerland
• despite the heavy bureaucratic burden associated with government funding, a nucleus of committed employers is offering high value-added apprenticeships. More young people apply for each of these apprentice places than for a place at an Oxbridge college
• compared with many other European countries, apprenticeships in England are relatively highly paid and in generally low demand by employers.

Report author, Dr Hilary Steedman is calling for a change in the country's apprenticeship model: "The coalition government should develop a simpler model that prioritises high skills and directs public funds for apprenticeship to any employer who can give young people long-duration, high-quality training".

The Centre for Economic Performance report, Apprenticeship policy in England: Increasing skills versus boosting young people's job prospects is available on the London School of Economics website.