Damian Hinds, Education Secretary, confirmed that the government wouldn’t be able to keep the promise of Apprenticeship Manifesto – three million apprenticeships that should’ve started in England by 2020. 
Robert Halfon, Chairman of the Education Select Committee, warned of decreasing numbers of the numbers of apprenticeships. He further pressed the education secretary into accepting that the manifesto target would be missed. Hinds also said that the apprenticeship training process was now higher in quality. 

Did the government abandon the apprenticeship manifesto?

The pressured subject was following the latest events in vocational training:

• Short-term politics disrupted the professional training process. 
• Apprenticeship numbers decreased. 
• Hand workers and craft workers need social titles to raise their status. 

After the questions occurred in the address of Mr Hinds, he said: “Countries with a strong vocational training system, such as Germany, the focus was on high-quality skills, rather than the volume of low-level training of questionable quality.” 
But the questions stays the same. “Has the three million apprenticeships target been abandoned?” asked Ian Mearns, Labour Party MP.
Mr. Hinds, avoiding the direct answer, argued that the demand on apprenticeships that the employers wanted was achieved. He then added, “If you look only at the number of people starting… then that is not going to be reached.”

Early doubts and the reason behind the apprenticeship manifesto

Early doubts about the announcement from the government to achieve three million apprenticeships came from The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee. 
A report, conducted in 2018 mentions that the three million number was a tactical move from the government. It was only used to make the manifesto seem powerful and impressive.
We can only imagine how tough it is for Mr. Hinds to face so many questions regarding his department’s work. In one of his interviews, he stated that the idea behind the manifesto came after observing home-schooled children. He said that the families do a great job of teaching children at home, but he was concerned about the other side of the society, where children are outside of school and don’t have access to education. 
“Those are the children we should be worrying about,” said Hinds. He saw the opportunity to support these children in the manifesto of the apprenticeship.