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April 2011
Employers Set to Say ‘You’re Hired’ to More Apprentices
Business organisations have welcomed plans, announced in the March Budget, to increase the number of apprenticeships over the next four years.
Chancellor George Osborne said there would be £180 million for up to 50,000 extra apprenticeships over the next four years. They include 40,000 places to support young employed people, particularly as they move on from work experience programmes.
The government will also support business consortia with grants to set up and maintain advanced and higher apprenticeship schemes, creating a further 10,000 apprenticeships.
Research has shown that 80 per cent of those who employ apprentices agree that they make the workplace more productive.
The Federation of Small Businesses said that with almost seven in ten existing apprenticeships currently taking place within small firms, the extra places were a “significant development for the small business community and young people alike” while the British Retail Consortium – representing a sector that employs a million under-25s – said that the government was “right to support apprenticeships”.
Currently, there are more than 85,000 employers offering apprenticeships in England in 130,000 locations and in 200 job roles.
