DEPARTMENT FOR
INNOVATION, UNIVERSITIES AND SKILLS News Release issued by The
Government News Network on 25 February 2008
Leading employers
have today committed to adding over 4,000 apprenticeship places.
The announcement came as a kick-start to Apprenticeships Week and
was welcomed by Skills Secretary John Denham.
Vodafone have committed to 2000 apprenticeship starts in 2008-09,
Superdrug to 1,000, Sainsbury's to 400, Barchester
Healthcare to 350 and Veolia to 250. These are all substantial
increases on current numbers, while Phones4u have just set up
their new programme for more than 200 by the end of this year.
Veolia and Dollond & Aitchison are among a group of employers
working with Government to pilot 'over-training'.
Already running successful apprenticeship programmes, these
companies are offering to train a greater number of apprentices
than their own organisation needs in order to build up the skills
in their local area and supply chain. This is the beginning of an
ambitious new programme.
The announcement builds on the Apprenticeships Review, published
in January and launched by the Prime Minister. The Review outlined
the Government's ambitious plans to grow and strengthen
apprenticeships, and how those plans would be delivered to ensure
apprenticeships become a mainstream option for young people and
adults alike.
New research released today by the Learning and Skills Council
shows the significant benefits apprenticeships programmes can
bring to employers. 88 per cent believe apprenticeships lead to a
more motivated and satisfied workforce.
The Secretary of State welcomed today's commitment from
Superdrug, Sainsbury's, Veolia, Vodafone and others to swell
the numbers of apprentices in the coming year.
John Denham said:
"We must work closely with employers to make it easier for
them to improve the range of high-quality apprenticeships on offer
so that more young people and adults get the skills and
qualifications they need.
"I'm delighted that these firms have shown such a
commitment to their workforce. Britain will only succeed in the
global skills race if we develop the skills of our people to the
fullest possible extent and apprenticeships have a key role to
play. "
Vodafone UK HR Director Matthew Brearley said:
"The continued expansion of Vodafone's apprenticeship
programmes will further strengthen our recent commitment to the UK
Government Skills Pledge. Apprenticeships offer a valuable
learning and development opportunity and we actively encourage and
support our people to gain the skills and qualifications that will
support them throughout their careers."
Euan Sutherland, CEO of Superdrug, said:
"Superdrug is a people business and our success depends on
the skills of our team members. They deserve the best training and
development possible and we are committed to putting in place
programmes that will enable all colleagues to have nationally
recognised qualifications in key skills as well as vocational
retail beauty skills. We have set up a dedicated NVQ and
Apprenticeship team and are keen to further expand these
programmes, giving employees the opportunity to gain additional
qualifications in retail beauty skills as well as key skills."
Gary Tovey, Qualifications and Skills Manager, Sainsbury's, said:
"At Sainsbury's we made our Skills Pledge last year and
committed to ensuring that all our colleagues could develop their
skills. Apprenticeships are something special at
Sainsbury's: we want to build on our successful pilot in
bakery and give our colleagues apprenticeships in other specialist
areas such as butchery and fish. By 2010 we want every store to
have at least one craft apprentice. "
Henri Proglio, Veolia CEO, said:
"Veolia is the World's Leading Environmental Service
group. In the UK it employs around 24,000 people. With more than
90% of these employees engaged in front-line jobs, we are
convinced that we must invest in our people and give them
opportunities for professional growth and development, while at
the same time fostering initiative and individual responsibility.
Apprenticeships are key to helping our Group achieve this goal. "
Andy Ferguson, Dollond & Aitchison CEO, said:
"We have developed an apprenticeship programme which is
completely embedded in the business: we relate all of it back to
customer service and the job that our people do. We don't
restrict it to young people either: we value it so highly that we
offer it to all our new staff, whatever age they are. We know
that our customers see the results of this investment every day in
our business."
Dr Terry Tucker, Director of Learning, Development and
Hospitality at Barchester Healthcare, said:
"One of Barchester's strategic objectives is to employ
outstanding people; one of the ways we ensure we do this is to
offer great career pathways, often starting with apprenticeships -
it works for us!"
Notes to editors:
1. This first-ever Apprenticeships Week, sponsored by the
Learning and Skills Council, aims to celebrate the success of the
Apprenticeships Programme and to raise awareness among employers
on the vital role of Apprenticeships, and to encourage more
employers to see the value of offering Apprenticeships to grow
their business. For further information, see http://www.lsc.gov.uk.
2. "Over-training" was discussed in Chapter 5
'Boosting employer supply' of the Apprenticeship Review,
published on 28 January 2008 and can be seen at: http://www.dius.gov.uk/publications/world_class_apprenticeships.pdf.
3. Apprenticeship starts are measured in academic years, ie, from
September to August. All current apprenticeship start figures are
supplied by the Learning and Skills Council. The figures covering
individual companies expanding their apprenticeship schemes in
2008/09 have been supplied by those companies.
4. The substantial growth of Vodafone's apprenticeships
programme is already underway and Vodafone are now expanding their
successful Customer Management programme. They will also offer
high street store retail apprenticeships and have committed to a
further 2000 apprentices starting in 2008/09.
5. Superdrug employs over 16,000 people; over 3,000 in the
16-18-year-old age range and approximately 4,500 in the 19-24 age
bracket. Superdrug launched their apprenticeships programme in
2007 and have had 200 apprentices start to date. They have
committed to a further 1,000 starting in 2008-09 with plans to
bring apprenticeships into distribution centres as well as stores.
Superdrug is also working with Skillsmart to develop a unique
beauty apprenticeship programme which combines retail, beauty and
selling skills.
6. Sainsbury's employ 150,000 staff. They are now
recruiting their first 100 people to their apprenticeship
programme, with another 65 by the end of 07/08 and 700 by 2010.
7. Veolia employ 44,000 staff and started apprenticeships this
academic year. Most are in engineering in their Dalkia water
treatment business at present. Veolia have had 78 apprentices
start to date and have committed to 250 starting in 2008/09.
8. Phones4u have committed to 227 apprenticeship starts this year
in retail and contact centre management. From March 2008, all new
Phones4u staff will go through an induction programme accrediting
them with a level-2 qualification at month four.
9. Barchester Healthcare currently run apprenticeships in health
and social care, hospitality, customer service, learning and
development, and administration and are committed to expand their
apprenticeship programme to include building maintenance and
laundry services. Barchester Healthcare employs over 13,500 staff
and care for 10,000 people in 180 locations.
10. Dollond & Aitchison currently have 45 apprenticeship
starts to date, expecting 110 starts to the end of 2007/08, and
have committed to 150 starts for 2008-09.