10:36am Tuesday 2nd February 2010
As National Apprenticeship Week gets under way, a new Government-backed company has been launched in the North-East to encourage more firms to take young people on. Business Editor Owen McAteer looks at what is being done to get young people into training.
SPENDING the morning building a regard panel, a device which detects gas, is definitely not all in a typical day’s work for James Ramsbotham the chief executive of the Durham City based North East Chamber of Commerce (NECC).
His skills are normally applied to addressing meetings and gatherings while he represents his organisation’s 4,000 member companies.
But yesterday, as he became an apprentice to 18-year-old Jack Glendinning, Mr Ramsbotham was in no doubt he was learning something important.
He said: “I’m always standing on various stages and talking about the advantages that apprentices bring, so it’s good to spend a bit of time actually being one. It helps me understand more.”
The importance of finding jobs and training for young people has become a key issue, with total youth unemployment at a 15-year high of nearly 943,000 – about one in five 16 to 24- year-olds.
It will be brought into sharper focus over the next few days with National Apprenticeship Week.
The NECC launched its 5-A Day campaign in September last year, with the aim of getting five young people every day on to the Government’s vocational Apprenticeships scheme in the 80 days leading up to Christmas.
It exceeded this target. Up to Christmas Eve, NECC received a commitment from businesses offering 512 vacancies.
Middlesbrough-based training charity The TTE Technical Training Group has also launched its Apprentices for the Upturn campaign, which has won the support of the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
A new institution has just added its weight. The North East Apprenticeship Company (NEAC) was launched yesterday by Minister for 14-19 Reform and Apprenticeships, Iain Wright.
It is a partnership between Gateshead Council and Gateshead College, which have both invested £25,000 in the scheme The National Apprenticeship Service will provide more than £500,000 to run the company for the next three years.
One of its main aims is to encourage small and medium-sized businesses to take on apprentices by making it less of a risk.
It will need the support of those businesses if it is to hit its target of creating more than 1,000 apprentice jobs in the next two years.
The company will employ the apprentices and contract them out to host employers.
It is believed this will encourage businesses, by minimising the risk to employers who might not be able to make the commitment to taking on an apprentice full time.
It also provides much greater security for the apprentice, as they are employed by the company and are able to move between employers to complete their apprenticeship.
Kim Davies, NEAC project director, said: “We have consulted with employers to find out what they want now and in the future from apprentices.
“By removing many of the barriers that have traditionally discouraged employers from hiring in the past, we will make it easier, quicker and more cost effective for them to tap into a new resource of talented, enthusiastic and willing-to-learn young people.”
The initiative is being backed by employers and regional business bodies, including the NECC, the Federation of Small Business and the TUC.
It is fair to say those who have been involved with apprentices understand their value.
One of the reasons for yesterday’s job swap involving Mr Ramsbotham was Dave Richardson, who began his career as a teenage apprentice toolmaker and is now managing director of Draeger.
The Northumberland company, which produces safety products, services and systems for industries such as medical, emergency services and oil and gas, signed up to the Government’s apprenticeship programme in 2000.
It has nine apprentices – five mechanical engineers, a business administrator and three electrical engineers including Mr Glendinning, Draeger’s apprentice of the year.
Mr Richardson said: “I have great faith in the apprenticeship programme.
“It’s the idea that you can not only be an apprentice, but that you can go on to do so much more, like take a degree, and move onwards and upwards, businesswise.
“That’s the message we get across to our apprentices, that they can strive to the next level. Almost half of our UK safety board of directors started as apprentices.”
“We are filling a big skills gap and we also see it as investing in young people.
They are our future.”
He added: “If businesses come together and invest in these programmes, they can help fill the skills gap, invest in the talent pool in the North-East and give young people a good sense of self esteem. It’s a win, win for all concerned.”
Mr Glendinning, who has completed the first year of an Ordinary National Certificate (ONC) in electrical and electronic engineering, said: “I left school knowing I wanted to work on the electrical side of things.
“I like the hands-on side, which I do four days a week, then I like going to college one day a week to learn about the theory side of the job. For me, it’s also about the chance to earn a wage while I learn.”
After showing Mr Ramsbotham the ropes, Mr Glendinning spent the afternoon at NECC’s headquarters, at Aykley Heads, just outside Durham City.
Mr Ramsbotham said: “I really wanted to get under the skin of what it means to be an apprentice in today’s society and, thanks to Jack, I had the opportunity to do that.
“Apprenticeships offer an opportunity to train employees fully into the culture of the organisation and there’s a great deal of evidence to show that apprentices remain very loyal and committed as a result.
“The job swap has helped to highlight the role that apprentices play and the value that they bring to businesses. Any company can offer apprenticeships – and I wish they would – because we desperately need to employ today’s younger generation.”
Patricia Wilkinson, director of training and skills development at NECC, said businesses were often surprised by the range of apprenticeships on offer.
She said: “It’s about more than engineering. Apprenticeships are not just offered in traditional sectors, but range from accountancy and business administration to dental nursing and laboratory technicians. The course on built environment is particularly popular at the moment.
“In recent years, there has been a big increase in the numbers of apprentices. Official statistics showed that 239,900 people started an apprenticeship in 2008-09, representing the highest take-up in an academic year, which demonstrates that businesses are starting to realise the benefits of employing apprentices.
“Not only can taking on an apprentice highlight a company’s commitment to training, but they can be moulded into the ideal employee.”
And Miss Wilkinson says that taking on an apprentice does not have to cost a company a fortune.
“NECC offers a dynamic, free training recruitment service for appointing apprentices so that we can match the right apprentice to the right job,” she says.
“When you consider that the full training costs are met by the Government and there is also a new employment subsidy of £2,500 available until the end of March, it can work out pretty inexpensive for businesses. They just need to pay the minimum £95 a week salary for the apprentice.”
Keith Hunter, managing director of TTE Technical Training Group, said: “With recent official figures showing that the UK is starting to come out of recession, it is more imperative than ever that companies start planning for the upturn and, as part of that, appreciate the need to have a properly trained workforce in place to be able to grasp forthcoming opportunities.”
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