Prince Charles unveils Industrial Cadets scheme (From The Northern Echo)
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Prince Charles unveils Industrial Cadets scheme
12:04pm Tuesday 22nd January 2013 in Business News
YOUTH SKILLS PROJECT: Prince Charles visits the Jaguar Land Rover Halewood Operations Centre in Merseyside, yesterday, to help launch the Industrial Cadets initiative
THE Prince of Wales has announced the national rollout of a youth skills programme that stems from a visit he made to a North-East steelworks in 2010.
The Prince yesterday unveiled a £2.4m boost for Business Class, a scheme which helps firms work with schools in deprived areas, and a rollout of Industrial Cadets, which helps young people get involved in manufacturing and engineering.
The cadet scheme has its roots in the Prince’s visit to Teesside steel firm Tata when he urged company bosses to raise aspirations for local youngsters.
The Prince, who is a passionate advocate of opportunities for young people, feared that unless industry nurtured the next generation of talent, Britain was in danger of losing its world-class reputation in engineering and manufacturing.
His prompting led to the annual Tata Steel Industrial Cadet scheme, which helps 25 North-East youngsters aged 12 to 14 get their first taste of a career in industry.
The Prince’s idea was also an inspiration for The Northern Echo’s Foundation for Jobs campaign launched last year to help tackle high levels of youth unemployment in the region.
The campaign, supported by Darlington Borough Council and the Darlington Partnership of private and public sector organisations has been hailed a success by Prime Minister David Cameron and its patron, Justin Welby, the Bishop of Durham, Archbishop of Canterbury elect, who wants the Foundation for Jobs to become a model that is replicated all over the country.
Speaking yesterday following a visit to the Jaguar Land Rover production plant in Halewood, Merseyside, Prince Charles said: “Too often it seems forgotten in this country that Britain is very good at manufacturing and has all sorts of remarkable skills of ingenuity, inventiveness and how to put brilliant ideas into production.
“As a country, we are rightly proud of our industrial heritage and we should also celebrate our continued success as a standard-bearer for quality manufacturing and engineering throughout the world.”
He highlighted the country’s skills in car making, precision engineering and craftsmanship, adding: “Britain is a truly global leader and, of course, we have to be careful to invest in that manufacturing and creativity by ensuring the sector has access to enough talented young people with the necessary skills to help these companies grow.”
The Prince is carrying out visits over two days to champion the best of British engineering and manufacturing.
Business Class, run by the Prince’s Business in the Community (BITC) charity, helps successful firms form longterm partnerships with schools in deprived communities that could benefit from their help and expertise.
The new funding will help BITC meet its target to build 500 partnerships by 2015 and help over 75,000 young people.
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