The government today launched National Apprenticeship Week, celebrating the commitment of employers to recruit apprentices and urging people to look at the benefits to their skills and career of becoming an apprentice.
Major UK employers are expecting to hire thousands of apprentices in 2010 and the government is encouraging all businesses to take up the new Apprentice Grant for Employers (AGE) scheme offering a £2,500 grant for each 16 or 17-year-old apprentice taken on.
Business Minister Pat McFadden visited a Morrisons supermarket in Camden, London, to congratulate the firm for its commitment to make 5,500 Government-funded Apprenticeship places available by July 2010. Morrisons will be creating more than 20,000 Apprenticeships in the next year, and offers training in Bakery, Butchery and Retail Skills, at level 2 (equivalent to five good GCSEs).
Pat McFadden said:
“For so many businesses to be planning to recruit in 2010 is good news for the whole economy. It shows employers increasingly recognise the benefits they get from hiring apprentices. Undertaking an apprenticeship is a great way of learning a trade and gaining vocational experience.
“Skills will be crucial to a strong economic recovery and I urge employers across the country to take the chance apprentices give them to boost their competitiveness, innovation and growth this year.”
Full press release: Government celebrates apprenticeships and urges business to recruit in the recovery
Go to the Apprenticeships website
Become a fan of Apprenticeships on Facebook
View images of Pat McFadden’s visit on Flickr
