EIGHT young people, who developed their skills at a leading North-East training organisation, have secured engineering apprenticeships with firms in the region in little over a week.

The young people who have been based with South West Durham Training (SWDT) on the Aycliffe Business Park in Newton Aycliffe include three who featured in the Northern Echo, advertising their skills and a desire to find work, as part of our Foundation for Jobs campaign.

Since appearing in the newspaper Luke Nicholson, 17, and Arran Fuller, 18, have secured employment as apprentices with DSM, in Newton Aycliffe, while Liam McCreavey, 21, has been taken on as an apprentice with Springfield NE Limited.

The other young people to find full time apprenticeships are Josh Biggs, 22, with Ruck Engineering, Oliver Lawson, 18, Matthew Hicks, 17, and Sam Notman, 18, with Sabre Rail and Matthew Deacon, 27, with Altec Engineering.

The success of the eight emerged as National Apprenticeship Week aims to promote the importance of meaningful training opportunities for young people.

It also comes as Foundation for Jobs, a partnership between The Northern Echo, Darlington Borough Council and the Darlington Partnership of private and public sector organisations in the area, aims to inspire young people to consider careers in sectors, such as engineering, which will be major creators of jobs in the North-East going forward.

More than 110 young people have secured apprenticeships since the launch of the campaign and around 1,100 school age children have taken part in events which link them with business.

This is to highlight the sectors which are set to be major job creators going forward and give them a better understanding of training options either in higher education or through apprenticeships.

Michael Blades, business development manager at SWDT, said: “We’re thrilled to see so many of our learners finding employment which obviously means they now have the opportunity to work towards their advanced apprenticeship.

“With the looming skills shortage in the North-East engineering and manufacturing sector it’s heartening to see so many companies taking on apprentices as a way of bringing fresh talent into their businesses

“Each year we see many very talented learners pass through our centre and we would urge all those companies who currently don’t use apprentices as part of their succession plan to consider this option.”

One of the aims of Foundation for Jobs is to reduce youth unemployment in the North-East by addressing preconceptions young people and their families often have surrounding certain industry sectors and apprenticeships.

The importance of challenging these perceptions was demonstrated by a new study this week, carried out by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

It found just one in 10 parents believed apprenticeships were their preferred qualification for their children, with fewer than a fifth believing the on-the-job training scheme has the same status as university education.

This is despite the fact apprenticeships are forecast to contribute £3.4bn a year to the economy through productivity gains by 2022 and the number completing apprenticeships is predicted to increase from 260,000 in the current financial year, to 480,000 by 2022.

David Way, Chief Executive of the National Apprenticeship Service, said: "I regularly speak to employers who tell me about the benefits that Apprenticeships bring to their business.

"Apprentices not only increase productivity but also bring creativity and dynamism into the workplace.

"We need to get this evidence across, particularly to small employers.

"The Bridges Into Work Programme will help us to do this, by being able to reach many more small businesses who would benefit from taking on an apprentice."