Women Told To Take Up Apprentice Challenge

5 March 2014, 06:00

An apprenticeship placement firm in Hertfordshire says despite men being more than twice as likely to take up apprenticeships than women - some of the highest achievers are females.

Bill Twigg from the Semta Group told Heart it's becoming more attractive because many newer apprenticeships combine practical learning AND formal education

A poll shows nearly half of UK businesses plan to hire apprentices over the next few years - it's up from just over a third who said the same, a year ago.

STEVENAGE

Over the past two years, the apprentices at Stevenage Borough Council have completed over 1,700 hours of study and have gained 40 qualifications between them.

This week is National Apprentice Week and the council is celebrating their 13 hard-working and local apprentices, who were recruited with the support of North Hertfordshire College.

The apprentices work across a number of different service areas including Property Repairs, Pest Control, Environmental Services, Policy, Leisure, Tenancy Services, Customer Services and Housing.

Councillor Joan Lloyd, Executive Member for Resources, said: "The apprenticeship scheme has been a real success story so far. It has been a positive way to provide local jobs for local people, which is important for young people leaving school and college looking for work in today’s difficult economic climate.

Our apprentices have really excelled themselves so far and it’s great to recognise them as a shining example of the talent and potential in young people in the town. We look forward to seeing them continue to progress and hope their achievements will inspire other young school-leavers to consider apprenticeships.

MILTON KEYNES

Mark Lancaster MP is calling for more local businesses to take on an apprentice, after new research revealed the extent of the benefits involved.

Every time a local company hires an apprentice, their bottom line gets an average boost of £2,162. This happens immediately, while the apprentice is being trained, and represents the benefit after typical wage and training costs for the South East are deducted.

Last year, 1,190 people started an apprenticeship in Milton Keynes North. This means that new apprentices alone provided a local boost of around £2,573,000 in 2012/13.

The number of apprentices has been increasing rapidly. Despite this, surveys show that 60% of small businesses are missing out because they don’t know enough about how apprenticeships work. Many assume that they are difficult to administer and will involve a short-term cost.

BEDFORD, MK, NORTHAMPTON & LEIGHTON BUZZARD

Transport logistics firm Norbert Dentressangle say there's vacancies for young people at their bases in Beds, Bucks and Northants - with around 50 being taken on locally, of the 300 around the country.

Norbert Dentressangle’s Head of Learning & Development, Chris Dolby, a former apprentice himself said: "For Norbert Dentressangle, employing apprentices represents a win-win situation – they earn while they learn, and we have the opportunity to mould enthusiastic youngsters into our type of person. 

Unlike many other professional service industries, where a degree is almost a prerequisite for career progression, many senior people in the logistics industry have ‘come up through the ranks’. As an industry, we are great at recognising and nurturing raw talent and I fully expect that some of the apprentices who join us in the next few weeks will be our senior managers of tomorrow.