By Millie Turner The government should axe its levy on apprenticeships, the head of skills at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has said, as the UK wrestles with STEM skills shortages and shrinking talent pools. Speaking to the science and technology Lords committee in parliament yesterday, the CBI’s Robert West urged that an independent government taskforce to tackle the country’s skills crisis amid sprawling labour shortages was “worth exploring”. “There are two things going on here that both need addressing. One is a labour shortage and the other is there’s a skills shortage,” he …