Member Article

Pre-Apprentices kick-off £3.4m scheme

A £3.4m programme to get young Teesside people back to work is under way.

The first Pre-Apprentices for the Sembcorp Skills Development Programme (SDDP) have started their six-month training scheme at Middlesbrough College.

The special training scheme is designed to help young people not in employment, education or training secure an apprenticeship in the process industries.

Middlesbrough College has been chosen to deliver the six-month Pre-Apprenticeship element of the SSDP, launched by UK Business Secretary Dr Vince Cable in May.

The first group of 15 young learners was welcomed to the college by the college’s principal Mike Hopkins.

He said: “This partnership is validation of the excellent training we deliver at Middlesbrough College. “It’s widely accepted that highly skilled apprentices deliver real business benefits for employers and the skills taught at Middlesbrough College are of consistently high quality, whether students are full time learners, part time learners, or apprentices.”

A total of 110 young people not currently in employment, education or training are being recruited onto the Pre-Apprenticeship over the next few months with the aim of getting them to a standard where they can compete on level skills terms with others for 100 SSDP Advanced Apprenticeships which start early in the New Year.

Sembcorp led the bid for £3.4m of public funding made available through the Government’s Employer Ownership of Skills Pilot (EOP) on behalf of some of the biggest names in process industry manufacturing.

The SSDP Advanced Apprenticeship, which lasts three years, is also supported by a growing number of smaller firms in the supply chains of the process industry companies attracted by the ability to access a wider, more flexible range of quality training.

George Ritchie, senior vice president for HR at Sembcorp, added: “This is a landmark moment for employers because under this Government-backed initiative, for the first time, the investment in skills is employer-owned and outcome-driven ensuring we have the pipeline of talent that we need to succeed.

“It’s a landmark moment too for these young people as they embark on what will hopefully lead to long and successful careers in the process industries.”

Dr Stan Higgins of NEPIC, the umbrella body representing more than 500 firms in the process industries throughout the north east, said: “As an industry which is now dominated by smaller more focused businesses and SMEs, it is only through collaborative initiatives such as this that we can hope to meet the future skills needs of the sector and its supply chain.”

Employers already signed up to support SSDP include: Wilton-based Sembcorp, Lotte Chemical UK, SABIC UK Petrochemicals, Huntsman Polyurethanes and CPI along with Chemoxy International in Middlesbrough, Lucite International and Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies at Billingham, Aesica Pharmaceuticals in Cramlington, High Force Research in Durham, Fine Organics and Epax Pharma at Seal Sands and Exwold Technology and Huntsman Tioxide at Greatham, near Hartlepool.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .