Good to see both the Sunday Times and the Sunday Express publishing a letter that we sent about the benefits of apprenticeships, particularly to smaller businesses. Needless to say both papers cut the letter down - the full version is set out below:
Sunday Express Letter Sunday Times Letter
Letter to the editor
Dear Sir,
All employers should welcome the Business Secretary Vince Cable’s new measures to ensure more young people benefit from an apprenticeship, and to help employers gain the skilled workers they need to grow.
As part of the Government’s plan for growth, all employers in the public and private sector should recognise that, for many business owners, apprenticeships are a critical way to train up young people and adults that then help grow their firms.
However, smaller companies often shy away from taking on apprentices. They worry about the costs, bureaucracy, and the potential risks to their business, particularly at a time when employing people is tough due to worries about the economy.
Small firms must be incentivised to take on apprentices, so I welcome the government’s moves to strip away some of the obstacles that have made it hard for smaller firms to get engaged.
With youth unemployment reaching a million initiatives such as the grant funding announced today will help the smallest of firms to take on young people. Nevertheless there remains a need for a continued focus on helping small businesses take on apprentices and remove the perceived barriers that prevent them from doing so.
Part of this is about publicizing the good practice and success stories that are already out there. At my own company we have witnessed how apprentices have contributed to the growth of businesses and we would urge companies – in both the public and private sector – to advantage of the new incentives not put in place by the Government to take on an apprentice. They have everything to gain by doing so. Only one in ten employers takes on apprentices currently which, to my mind, puts the other nine at a competitive disadvantage!
Jonathan Bourne,
Managing Director at Damar Training
