​The Rt Hon Robert Halfon has an extensive background in UK education policy and governance, having served as the Member of Parliament for Harlow from 2010 to 2024 and attending Cabinet from 2015 to 2016. His experience in educational reform includes chairing the House of Commons Education Select Committee between 2017 and 2022, as well as serving two terms as the Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships, and Higher Education (2016–17 and 2022–24). Here he offers a snapshot on his thinking around the potential impact Andy Burnham may have on education and the skills agenda, should he become Prime Minister.

“The starting point is his critique of the system. Burnham argues that English education has been built around the third of young people who take the academic, university route. In Greater Manchester, only 36% of 16-year-olds leave with EBacc subjects, and his recurring challenge is: "What about the 64%?" He has been consistent: this is not an attack on universities but an argument for two equal, parallel routes.

His answer was the MBacc – a deliberate technical counterpart to the EBacc, organised around seven employer-led "gateways" – It is designed to align a young person's choices from age 14 with the qualifications and routes that local employers actually value, giving what Burnham calls a "clear line of sight" from school to a good job.

On careers, Burnham has built the supporting machinery. The Beeline digital platform lets young people explore pathways and live job opportunities, and has been used by more than 5,000 students. The Greater Manchester Apprenticeship and Careers Service (GMACS) operates as a regional service that connects young people to apprenticeship and career information, now used by more than a hundred thousand people.

His support for T Levels is strong. Local colleges have beaten the national T Level pass rate for three consecutive years — 93.5% against 91.4% in 2025. Around one in ten of all T Level students in England now study in the city-region, and 89% of its T Level leavers were in work, study, or both in the year after completing their T Level. Employers have pledged over 1,000 placements. Burnham has said the results show colleges and employers are building a world-class technical education system.

On apprenticeships, the record is one of both promotion and infrastructure. Degree apprenticeships in Greater Manchester have risen consecutively, year on year. Burnham has backed pilots, such as university-style halls of residence for apprentices, and is exploring the "UTC Sleeve" model to embed employer-led pathways within mainstream schools.

Underpinning this is devolution. Burnham took control of the adult education budget, secured a trailblazer deal creating a joint technical-education board with the DFE, and won a single integrated funding settlement. He argued that technical education cannot be fixed from Whitehall alone.

He has also tied skills directly to the NEETs challenge. Burnham has argued it makes no sense to carry a benefits bill for people in their twenties when nothing was done for them in their teens. His proposed response — a guaranteed 45-day work placement for every young person who wants one — would take the Greater Manchester placement model to a national scale.

On the evidence of Manchester, he has treated technical education as a first-order economic and social priority, built genuine infrastructure around it, and backed measurable results in T Levels and degree apprenticeships.”

This piece was original published on LinkedIn and has been reproduced with permission.