From apprentice to leading one of UK's biggest businesses

I have a particular experience of apprenticeships, having begun my working career at 17 as an undergraduate apprentice at Rolls-Royce. Now, as a leader in BAE Systems, I manage an £6bn business in the UK delivering all manner of defence equipment - military aircraft, submarines, advanced warships, munitions, combat vehicles, radar, torpedoes and the servicing, upgrade and maintenance required to support this equipment.

And in my role as a Commissioner for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills I hear similar stories every day at other organisations large and small.

In my view, apprenticeships are one of the best enablers for social mobility and I have witnessed many young people from very disadvantaged backgrounds flourish, which is incredibly rewarding. Without the burden of student debt, young 20-somethings with stable jobs and income can become homeowners with unrivalled knowledge of the world of work and proven skills.

For businesses and economic growth, the value of apprenticeships is really starting to pay dividends with 44pc of UK businesses planning to take on apprentices in the next five years as a core part of their growth strategy.

But of course employee skill levels and having the motivation to contribute to businesses is a direct result of training and experience gained at work, in addition to a positive and forward-looking culture. This is where I turn to standards.

Young people are absolutely reliant upon employers offering long-term training of the very highest quality leading to a recognised qualification. In recent years journalists have exposed several high-profile "training" programmes which have turned out to be little more than poor work experience or a supply of cheap labour.

I am anxious to ensure that these unfortunate cases are not repeated. Employers have a social and moral responsibility to deliver excellent training programmes.

Here I give an unashamed plug to the Trailblazers initiative – a Government-sponsored programme which asks employers to produce standards for apprentice training in their own sectors. On Tuesday the Prime Minister announced that a further 340 employers in areas including law, media, hospitality and tourism will be creating their own standards for apprenticeships.

This is excellent news – employers need the opportunity to design systems that work for them. Giving organisations responsibility and ownership of their own skills requirements is, I think, overdue. For too long successive governments have been blamed for the skills deficit, when I believe a lack of engagement between employers, government and the education system is the root of the problem.

Employers have been slow to recognise and communicate their skills requirements, whilst similarly educators and the Government of the day have been committed to academic development in areas not required by businesses.

But now, forced by economic hardship I believe we are finally beginning to tackle this lack of concerted action and move together in the right direction by increasing the number of high-quality apprenticeships in a huge variety of sectors. For those like me who are committed to social mobility - it’s a very good thing.

Nigel Whitehead is group managing director of BAE Systems

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