You’re Hired! Value of apprentices underlined

MORE employers and businesses are being urged to provide apprenticeships to people across the region, according to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), which has launched National Apprenticeship Week.

The week aims to highlight the essential role that apprenticeships play in today’s business world and the many benefits they can bring to companies operating across a broad range of sectors.

It was launched with an event at Anthony’s Piazza at Leeds Corn Exchange where apprentices and employers networked at a ‘speed dating’ event.

A current shortage of apprenticeship places being offered by employers in the region coincides with findings from the LSC, which reveal that 76% of businesses in the region claim that apprentices are more important than ever during the current economic downturn.

Pictured back row: Kirstie Rosconie, apprentice at the Learning and Skills Council; Danny Backhouse, apprentice at Complete Computer Systems; Kayleigh Lockhart, apprentice at NG Bailey. Front row: Alex Churton, apprentice at the Learning and Skills Council, Gary Rae, head of marketing and communications, Learning and Skills Council.

Yorkshire-based building services provider, NG Bailey, is a company committed to enhancing its business through offering high quality apprenticeships and training. The company has been taking on apprentices since 1934 and currently has 400 apprentices in its 4,000-strong workforce.

Mark Andrews, chief executive of NG Bailey and Apprenticeships Ambassador, said: “Without apprenticeships, businesses across many industries could be risking creating a skills gap for themselves in the future as well as missing out on a whole host of benefits that this type of training can bring to an organisation. We also have a duty to make sure young people are offered good quality options for choosing their own route to a successful career, of which an apprenticeship is one.”

National Apprenticeship Week is followed by a special one-off seminar event in Leeds on Wednesday March 4.

Self-made business leader and star of TV’s The Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar, will host the seminar and talk about the benefits of taking on apprentices to employers and champion work-based qualifications.

Gary Rae, head of marketing and communications at the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), said that apprenticeships were available in 80 different sectors and across 180 different roles.

“They range from working in horse care management to underwater diving schools, but we can create them to suit the employer, it is flexible and applies to people of all ages these days,” he said.

Dispelling myths surrounding apprenticeships will occupy a big focus during National Apprenticeship Week, with the wider business community and would-be apprentices unaware that schemes are available across a diverse range of sectors that span the breadth of the economy.

From traditional blue-collar roles to sectors ranging from accountancy and engineering, to construction, catering, creative industries and sport – today’s Apprenticeships cover an extremely broad spectrum.

For public and private sector employers hoping to provide Apprenticeships, funding is available from the LSC. The size of the contribution varies from £1,500 to £3,000 up to £10,000 to £15,000 depending on the sector and the age of the candidate, but the funding is vital for many companies having to cut budgets in the current climate. 

Research from the LSC found that two-thirds (61%) of companies in Yorkshire claim that apprentices have helped make their business more competitive, whilst 82% rely on their apprentices to provide them with the skilled workers needed for the future.

The findings also highlight how apprenticeships are critical to ensuring that businesses have the skilled workforce needed to remain competitive in adownturn and help stimulate the region’s future, long-term economic growth. A further 89% of businesses across the region believe that apprentices have helped increase overall productivity within the work place.

Margaret Coleman, regional director for the LSC Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “Apprenticeship Week aims to address the shortage of employers who are able to provide places to people across Yorkshire and the Humber, particularly in light of the many benefits apprenticeships can deliver and the funding available.

Apprenticeship Week 2009 is the beginning of a long-term campaign to urge more employers to engage in Apprenticeships and learn more about how they can enable them to nurture a highly skilled and talented workforce – something that is fundamental to their future business productivity and growth.”

Further information on how employers can find out more about Apprenticeships is available by phoning   08000 150 600 or by logging on to www.apprenticeships.org.uk