THIS week, David Lidington, MP for Aylesbury, writes exclusively to Bucks Free Press readers:

Digital technology and global competition are transforming our assumptions about work and careers.

Every employer I talk to, national or local, says that tomorrow’s workers will need to be better educated and skilled than ever before.

There are encouraging signs. A couple of weeks ago, I spoke at the Bucks Skills Show. Employers, colleges and training providers had set up shop. Several thousand young people came through the doors.

There was a real buzz about the event with young men and women keen to find out what was on offer and what skills they’d need for the future.

Some saw their future as going to university before starting a career. Others were interested in a vocational route like an apprenticeship.

I remembered those young people a few days ago, when I chaired a Ministerial meeting to discuss the government’s plan for 3 million high-quality apprenticeships.

Britain is home to some of the top schools and universities in the world. Yet in the post-war era we have never, under any government, really made a success of apprenticeships. That has to change.

Getting apprenticeships right does need money, from both government and larger employers. It also means making sure that more small companies are able to take on an apprentice, supported by a tax break and by making it possible for a large firm to use some of its apprenticeship levy fund to help its smaller suppliers.

But we also need cultural change. I’m finding more young constituents keen to consider the apprenticeship route, but there are still too many employers who treat a degree as the entry level qualification for a job. Government departments need to lead more by example too.

We owe it to the next generation to get this right.