Businesses need to make more places available to apprentices, as demand for places – as well as numbers of young people in apprenticeships – hits record levels, a minister has said.

Speaking to the Voice of Apprenticeships conference, skills minister Matthew Hancock said there are 868,700 people in apprenticeships, a 30 per cent rise on this time last year.

Meanwhile, applications for positions have risen 48 per cent with a bigger increase in numbers of women applying.

“We need to make sure the supply of places keeps up with demand. Step up the drive for quality as well as quantity,” said Mr Hancock.

“That’s why need we more businesses to champion brilliant apprenticeships that become as fiercely coveted as a place at one of our top universities.”

He pointed to a recent study by McKinsey which found that around a quarter of employers had left entry-level vacancies unfilled.

A third had lost out on business opportunities because they couldn’t find recruits with the right skills.