THE Queen’s Speech will today include a Jobs and Apprenticeships Bill that will pave the way for three million new apprenticeships to be created over the next parliament.

That is an impressive target – but is it realistic?

Training young people in the skills that industry needs should be a priority for any government. In that respect the bill is on solid ground and should secure widespread support.

But my concern is that we will not have enough companies willing to sponsor three million extra apprentices through their training or offer them a chance to hone their skills in the workplace.

There is still a perception among some employers that apprentices are a hindrance and as businesses edge back towards growth they need all-hands-on-deck capable of making a full contribution. “Apprentices get in the way of real work being done,” the boss of a small firm told me last month when I asked why he wasn’t taking any on. It is an understandable view, but a short-sighted one.

It is also short-sighted for the government to set targets while failing to address some of the systemic problems that led the Local Government Association earlier this month to say the apprenticeship system is failing young people. Their research found the majority of places are going to over-25s, as employers prefer more mature, work-ready staff.

Creating quality apprenticeships in partnership with employers is the way forward, or by 2020 will have thousands of apprentices with nowhere to work.

WHEN a colleague announces their retirement it is customary to ask them: “What will you do with all of your new found spare time?”

But in the case of Barry Nelson, The Northern Echo Health and Education Editor, who retires on Friday, it’s more a case of what will we do with all of the spare time we’ll enjoy without Barry’s constant stream of anecdotes that distract us from our day jobs?

Barry’s tales of his brushes with c-list celebrities are legendary. I’ve sat beside him for the last few years and heard them all – from the time he played table tennis with sixties vocal group The Bachelors to his bumping into Boney M as the band exited a hotel lift in Goa, India. Even when he met genuine stars – such as when he rubbed shoulders with Blondie in their 1970s heyday – it wasn’t at a hip New York night club or in the Top of the Pops studios, but as he stood queuing for his tea at a fish & chip shop in Leicester. Picture that.

Stories are the lifeblood of a newspaper and Barry has never been short of one. He will be missed.

Follow me on Twitter @bizecho