National Apprenticeship Week – the day ahead

As National Apprenticeship Week takes off, Minister of State for Skills visits Nestlé in York and York College.

Nick Boles MP, Minister of State for Skills is today visiting Nestlé in York, one of the city’s biggest employers, who have been offering apprenticeships for more than 55 years across a wide range of functions including commercial and technical. There are currently 146 apprentices within the organisation with 25 based at the York Factory and a further 17 within the head office at the same site.

Mr Boles will tour the KitKat factory where he will meet Karl Rean, Food Operations Apprentice and Fran Igoe, Engineering Apprentice.

Nick Boles MP will then visit York College to officially open its new Construction & Skills Centre – located on the College’s Sim Balk Lane campus, where he will have a tour of the brick work and joinery workshops where he will take part in laying bricks and cutting timber. He will also meet apprentices.

The college, which has been operation since the start of the academic year, was supported by grant funding through the Skills Funding Agency to build the new £6M Construction & Skills Centre. It accommodates full time students and apprentices studying brickwork, joinery, plastering and engineering courses.

Throughout the week, employers of all sizes will be coming together to showcase how apprenticeships help them #RiseToTheTop of their industry.

Deloitte UK is one of the major companies who have made commitments to apprenticeships to mark the start of the week.

David Sproul, Chief Executive of Deloitte UK, said: “Improving social mobility is one of the UK’s biggest challenges. One of the ways in which we are seeking to address this is by doubling the number of positions available through our BrightStart Business Apprenticeship Scheme.

“The scheme will provide 200 high quality apprenticeships to school and college-leavers, giving them the opportunity to study technical qualifications whilst working at the firm. For us, there is a clear business imperative to get this right. In order to provide the best possible service and make an impact with our clients, we need to hire people who think and innovate differently, come from a variety of backgrounds and bring a range of perspectives and experience into the firm. We truly value this difference.”

The post National Apprenticeship Week – the day ahead appeared first on UK Construction Online.