This month I have decided to put the spotlight on National Apprenticeship Week, which took place between 5th and 9th March. Whilst we rightly applaud those who go the academic route and achieve, it has only been in recent years that we have really recognised and promoted the value of the Apprenticeship route. Since 2010 our Government has began the process of increasing emphasis on apprenticeships and since 2010 there have been over 3.8 million apprenticeships started.
It is crucial that as a nation we create many more engineers and scientists, especially if we are going to maintain and enhance our sovereign defence manufacturing capability. Apprenticeships are perfect for furnishing people of any age with the important skills they need to grow at the beginning of their careers and to excel in their chosen fields. Last year I had the privilege of welcoming some talented apprentices to the House of Commons for the ADS Group, which is the trade organisation for the aerospace, defence, security, and space industries. I hope to do so again this year, once we no longer have Brexit looming over us and dominating all our diaries and thoughts.
Not only are apprenticeships a vital way of getting young blood into engineering, a field which is crying out for talent across the country, it is also an excellent way to retrain if you are thinking about a change in your career. The Ministry of Defence, for example, has an excellent initiative called the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), which works with businesses to offer apprenticeships to service personnel leaving the armed forces. A fantastic case study of this is the work CTP has done with Persimmon Homes, who have a presence in our local area and have worked to bring 500 ex-military personnel on board, training them in crafts such as bricklaying and joinery. Not only does this help fill a vital skills gap in our housing industry, which needs to be addressed in order for us to meet the challenges presented by the housing crisis, but it also treats those who have served their country courageously with the respect they deserve, by offering them an opportunity to make an honest living after leaving the forces.
I am such an avid supporter of apprentices that I am intending to employ one in my constituency office; I had a fantastic apprentice for a couple of years in my Westminster office to work as a key part of my team there. As well as working and earning, apprentices working for MPs study towards a qualification in business administration, which will give them a strong foothold moving forward onto the next stage of their career.
I have agreed to visit John Lewis at the Cribbs Causeway Mall and also Rolls Royce in the coming weeks to meet with some of their apprentices and their supervisors to discuss their programmes and thoroughly look forward to hearing about their experiences.
If you or someone you know could be interested in an apprenticeship then please get in touch with me at Jack.Lopresti.MP@parliament.uk and my team and I will do our best to sign post you to someone to discuss any opportunities further.
