MEL Stride, the MP for Central Devon, urged at the start of this week, the 10th National Apprenticeship Week 2017, that local businesses take on an apprentice.

The week aims to raise awareness about apprenticeships and celebrate the huge growth in apprenticeships seen over the last decade.

Mr Stride, who served as a ministerial aide in the business department in the early part of the last parliament, helping to deliver the huge increase in apprenticeships seen in recent years, said: “The benefits to employers of taking on an apprentice are huge – nine out of 10 say that they are satisfied with their apprenticeship programme and three-quarters say that apprentices have improved their business’s productivity or the quality of their product or service.

"The benefits to the apprentices are also sizeable with nearly three-quarters staying with the same employer after their apprenticeship finishes, 90 per cent staying in employment overall and a quarter gaining a promotion within a year of finishing.

"Apprenticeships are becoming an increasingly popular way to transition from education to employment and I urge businesses who have not yet explored the benefits of taking on an apprentice to do so and schools in my constituency to do everything they can to promote apprenticeships to their students.”

Those taking part in apprenticeships increased to 899,400 in the 2015/16 academic year, up 3.2 per cent on 2014/15 and the highest number on record.

Apprenticeships are available in 1,500 job roles, covering more than 170 industries. Up to 28,000 quality apprenticeship vacancies are available online at any one time, with the quickest and easiest way to find out more information being to visit: www.apprenticeships.org.uk .

Alan Quick