A new initiative to increase the number of people from
disadvantaged communities taking up high-quality apprenticeships
opportunities has been launched today.
Four local authorities - Portsmouth, Nottingham, South Tyneside
and Torbay - have all signed up to take part in the new
‘Opportunities Through Apprenticeships’ pilot scheme.
Each area has pledged to work with employers, training providers
and local partners to promote and encourage people to consider
doing apprenticeships in key sectors such as engineering,
manufacturing, construction and ICT.
This will include developing an action plan to help break down
barriers and support individuals to access apprenticeships in
their local area, and promoting higher level apprenticeships, as
a great way to work with some of the UK’s key employers.
, Minister of State for
Apprenticeships and Skills concluded:
We want to increase the number of people taking up apprentices
from more disadvantaged areas. This exciting new project will
provide people of all ages a great opportunity to do exactly
that, especially in growing engineering and ICT sectors.
An apprenticeship gives someone the chance to get new skills,
get a better job and get on in a career.
I’m really looking forward to seeing the positive impact the
project has on the lives of people in Portsmouth, Nottingham,
Torbay and South Tyneside!
Apprenticeships offer people of all ages the chance to earn while
they learn, with options to train right up to degree level in a
range of exciting and rewarding jobs.
The government is working with employers across the country to
create more high quality apprenticeships to change the lives of
apprentices and so that business have access to the higher skills
they need for a rapidly changing world.
This work forms part of the government’s commitment to improve
social mobility by creating more high quality education and
training opportunities for people across the country. The project
will help identify and spread ‘what works’ so that successful
approaches can be adopted more widely.
The pilot projects will run until 2020. Their success will be
evaluated and learnings will be shared across other local
authorities in England.
