Member Article

Sir Alan Sugar looks for North East apprentices

Sir Alan Sugar has continued the high profile rebranding of the National Apprentice Service (NAS) with a talk to current apprentices and employers in Newcastle.

The NAS launched at the end of April, building on a recent surge of apprenticeships, which have trebled in the last decade.

Sir Alan spoke to current apprentices at the Lancastrian conference centre, in Gateshead, to see how they have benefited from apprenticeships and how they felt the service could improve.

Sir Alan said: “There are two issues here. One is to make the young people aware of apprenticeships, and the other issue is to make employers aware of what is possible.

“The people I have met today are glowing examples and it would be very useful to parade them in front of other employers to encourage businesses to invest in these people.”

He added: “I want to dispel this thing that apprentices are just cheap labour, what we have to do is to explain to employers why you need to take that investment - because you are going to build your mainstream core employees for the future.”

The NAS offers 180 apprenticeships across 80 different industries, from agriculture to construction to media, and has a huge satisfaction rate.

According to NAS figures 91% of people who completed their course believe it has significantly benefited their career and life options.

Sir Alan said: “It’s the teachers and the people who have their own agendas within the school perhaps not giving the right advice - and maybe some of the teachers and people in the school should themselves go on courses.

“I’m not being disrespectful, but they should be able to appraise what’s right for you without trying to get brownie points over how many A-levels you have.”

Jobs for the girls

He continued: “Apprenticeships are normally associated with engineering. The example I give is the man standing in his bib and brace in front of the lathe, but one of the young ladies I met today is a prime example of how apprenticeships are changing.

“She’s using computers to design products, she’s a young lady doing engineering in the modern day.”

The young lady in question was Rachael Palmer, from Middlesbrough, currently on an apprenticeship with Aker Solutions hoping to become a chartered mechanical engineer.

Rachael said: “I am really enjoying it. I have a twin sister who is at the same point as me - but she’s not on an apprenticeship, she’s getting a degree, and she’s finding it difficult to get a job. So the main bonus for me is the fact that I have already got all the on-the-job training - and a job.

She added: “The main problem when I was in school was not being aware of apprenticeships. “Certainly when you are at A-level there is no mention of them, so I think the teachers in school really need to let pupils know they are available.

“I think they aim them at under-achievers as well, which is completely the wrong thing.”

Rachael’s employer, Margaret Mason, said: “We have 30 apprentices, six undergraduates and 30 graduates and we invest in them from a very young age to take them right through to being fully qualified engineers.

“They are absolutely vital, we all know it is hard times at the moment and for a lot of businesses they will think the first thing they think can lose is apprenticeships.

“This is not the case, in a few years they will have to search for the new blood to come into the organisations.”

Looking to the future

Frank Ramsey, from NETA training trust, one of the largest vocational training providers in the country, said: “I think there will be a more structured path for learning the skills in every vocational area. I am not saying there wasn’t a lot of training in the past, but it wasn’t coordinated or focused.

“Now we have the common competency of common standards for people to learn and I think that is a good thing for the industry and the young people themselves.”

The NAS is responsible for the funding of apprenticeship places, and will try to meet the government’s 2013 aim that every suitably qualified young person has the right to an apprenticeship.

To see footage from the interview with Sir Alan, go to bdaily.info/tv/#alansugar.flv

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .