Readers from outside the world of skills policy (a confusing place of shifting sands, jungles of tangled bureacracy and constantly mutating acroynyms) may be forgiven for not knowing that it is currently National Apprenticeship Week.
The initiative is being led by the new National Apprenticeship Service (NAS), one of the new bodies which along with the SFA and YPLA is replacing the LSC (do keep up).
Apprenticeships are hugely valued by employers, as an establilshed model for high-quality work-based training, and it is reassuring that there is a degree of cross-party support for them.
But the squeeze on public spending presents challenges, and the case for apprenticeships (including those for post-19 learners) needs to keep being made. As I have said in an article for Personnel Today a long-term outlook is essential if we are to guarantee that apprenticeships are valued for life, not just for this one week.