A COLLEGE boss joined an MP in calling for greater financial support for youngsters wanting to take up apprenticeships.

Neil Bates, principal at Prospects College, in Luckyn Lane, Basildon, took Andy Burnham, a candidate for the Labour leadership, around the campus and explained how the college had been inundated with applications for courses.

Mr Bates said more than 1,500 people had applied for apprenticeships, but the college could afford to provide 400.

Mr Burnham said Westminster politicians had been “obsessed” with universities at the expense of alternative education options.

Mr Bates said: “If any government is going to set ambitious targets to grow numbers of people on apprenticeships, funding has to be made available.

"Budgets are very tight and we don’t know from one year to the next if we will have sufficient funding to offer the number of apprenticeships that are being demanded.

“It is a very strange situation. The Government is keen to see growth, but we cannot meet demand.”

Speaking to apprentices and staff at Prospects, Mr Burnham acknowledged apprentices do not receive the same financial help as university students.

He said: “I think it’s great to have half of young people going to university, but it’s time to focus on the other half. Why can’t people wanting to focus on high-level apprenticeships access the same funding as university students?

"If we want a fair country, we have got to have an education system that supports everyone.”