Business

Record number of people start apprenticeships

By Becky Barnes
February 13, 2013

A record number of people started apprenticeships in Bracknell Forest in the last financial year.

Between April 2011-2012, 840 people started an apprenticeship in the borough, an increase of 65 per cent compared to the previous year.

Bracknell MP Dr Phillip Lee said: “With the world around us changing, we will only succeed in the global race when everyone is given the chance to reach their full potential.

“Conservatives have dramatically increased the number of apprenticeships on offer compared to the last Labour government.

“These record levels of apprenticeships are fantastic news for our country, for Bracknell, and most of all for the people whose lives are being transformed by the opportunities they offer.”

In the first quarter of 2012/13, 380 people in the borough started apprenticeships.

| Submit Comments | View Comments (9)

« Previous Story | Next Story »

Most recent user comments 9 of 9

Excellent - "timepassing" welcome to the revolution :) We need something fresh for 2015 - lets show all the local tories the door.

Neal Evans, Forest Park
16/02/2013 at 19:32

I was merely congratulating Dr Lee for taking the credit on behalf of the conservatives for putting in place further opportunities for carpetbaggers to milk the system. Unfortunately we reside in a constituency where the incumbent party could put up a monkey and they would be duly voted in. Hence our honourable member.

timespassing
16/02/2013 at 16:14

Sorry timespassing - Dr Who taking responsibility? All he has done is give the local rag the approved words from Conservative HQ. His only assistance of work locally was an UNPAID role to be his skivvy at the local Conservative office.

Lee only looks after himself as is being pointed out be quite a few people.

Disgruntled Former-Tory, Bracknell Forest
15/02/2013 at 18:12

Sadly a lot of these schemes are run by firms with no interest other than to milk them for whatever they can squeeze out. Some are presumably criminal enterprises judging by arrests made by the police. Good to see Dr Lee putting his hands up and taking responsibility.

timespassing
14/02/2013 at 22:00

"It's a puppet" in the words of Brian Connolly - re Mr. Lee!

I just wish schools would give all the kids the whole picture when it comes to what they can do when they leave school. It seems that those who are in the top sets are branded as university material and those who aren't are only fit for an apprenticeship. NOT true!! My daughter has a fantastic brain but uni just didn't call for her. She has fallen on her feet with this but it's been no thanks to the school or Connexions. If the school had given her a better understanding of apprenticeships then perhaps she wouldn't have wasted an entire year at college and losing the will to live!

HK, bracknell
14/02/2013 at 18:48

Well done to your daughter HK. It is good to see apprenticeships coming back "into fashion." I just wish our MP would actually say something instead of trotting out the mandated words from Tory Towers:

http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2013/01/A_record_number_of_people_starting_apprenticeships.aspx

Neal Evans, Forest Park
14/02/2013 at 16:13

HK:

Well done your daughter...You must be proud of her :)

My objection is the subsidised job placement/training scheme being called an 'Apprenticeship'. It's causing lots of confusion because people still associate it with the five year scheme we all grew up with.

Dids, Bracknell
14/02/2013 at 13:20

Whereas I agree with what you are saying Dids I can only speak as I find. My daughter went to college when she left school but due to her poor health she had to have a lot of time off. The following year, she had lost the will to live and so gave up college. She went to connexions where they sent her away with a sheet of A4 paper and basically said she had to fend for herself. Having been in the top set at school, she wasn’t really made aware of apprenticeships as it was college and university that was banged into them. However, she has gone out and found herself an apprenticeship with the Compass group at Sandhurst Military College as a trainee chef. They are paying her a very good rate for a 17 year old compared to others that get away with the minimum wage for the age, which at 16 or 17 is very little. She is thoroughly enjoying her job and from what I have seen and heard, it is THE place to train if you want to get anywhere. So, there is a good side to some apprenticeships!

HK, bracknell
13/02/2013 at 19:29

Are these apprenticeships proper five year training for youngsters to learn a craft apprenticeships? Or a subsidised scheme for ayear or less serving in places like Morrisons? And with mainly over 40 year olds taking up the places. I suspect it's the latter.

Word is that there is so much confusion over the two they need to be classified differently.

In other words it's another cynical, taxpayer subsidised scheme to massage the unemployment figures.