Great Together - Encouraging apprenticeships

East Riding of Yorkshire Council is looking to grow the number of businesses it works with by taking part in the Greater Together campaign.

The council is taking part in the initiative, supported by a partnership of local training providers and the National Apprenticeship Service. The Greater Together campaign aims to encourage as many employers as possible to commit to taking on an apprentice from now until 27 March.

Sara Arnold, employment, education and skills group manager, said: "The council is proud to support local businesses with their apprenticeship training programmes.

“Apprenticeships are a great way for businesses to benefit from having a keen member of staff with exactly the right training and qualifications to help move the business forward. We are really proud of the way we match our candidates to the businesses and businesses tell us that we are one of the training providers that gets this right time after time.

“We're currently working with a number of local businesses to provide their apprenticeship training and we are looking to increase that number from now right through to National Apprenticeship Week in March.”

Councillor Jane Evison, cabinet portfolio holder for economy, investment and inequalities, said: “Now is the time to apply for apprenticeship vacancies and for businesses to recruit an apprentice, as there is a huge pool of talent out there. 

“The council is proud to again be supporting National Apprenticeship Week, which will provide a platform to showcase the range of services on offer to people considering applying for apprenticeships and information about available opportunities.

“Apprenticeships allow people to earn-while-they-learn and develop the necessary skills to forge a career in their chosen field.”

The council currently works with around 80 local employers. It offers apprenticeships and advanced apprenticeships in business administration, customer service and IT.

Employers interested in working with the council to recruit an apprentice should contact the employment, education and skills team on 01262 674968.

If you want to get involved in this year’s initiative, you can follow the campaign on Twitter @BeGreatTogether where you will find more information, or you can visit www.greatertogether.co.uk

The National Apprenticeship Service is also looking for existing apprenticeship employers to nominate a fellow company who they think would benefit from taking on an apprentice. You can do this by using the unique hash tag #EmployerNominate

To find out more about apprenticeships, click here.