Last updated 15:43, Wednesday, 22 October 2008

AT THE end of September, the Skills Secretary John Denham announced plans to increase the minimum wage for apprentices by £15 per week in order to attract school-leavers to apprenticeships and help the Government hit its ambitious targets.

This is good news and will have a positive impact on local apprentices currently studying at the college in traditionally low-paid areas such as health and social care, childcare and hairdressing.

This spotlight on apprenticeships has been brought about by the change in focus of the government priorities, following the Leitch review in 2006, which commented: "Without increased skills, we would condemn ourselves to a lingering decline in competitiveness, diminishing economic growth and a bleaker future for all. The case for action is compelling and urgent. Becoming a world leader in skills will enable to UK to compete with the best in the world.”

This report highlighted to the government the need to increase apprenticeship figures to one in five students studying an apprenticeship by 2013. To give you some idea of what a huge target that is, the current figure is about 1 in every 15. Locally this means that our new target for this year is almost the same as the amount of apprenticeships we have completed in the last six years from 2001-2007.

In addition to the apprenticeships, the Leitch review recommendations have also made a far-reaching impact on the function of colleges across the UK. A far greater emphasis has been to train people already in employment, with schemes such as Train to Gain. These changes have revolutionised the way in which we are funded and the shape of the provision we can offer to employers.

In response to these changes, we have created a new department called Workforce Development, which caters specifically to all employers, and aims to meet their diverse needs. This has been a steep learning curve for us, but we intend to use everything we have learnt from last year to achieve our even greater targets for this year.

This will allow those who are working in West Cumbria to access free qualifications that can enhance careers, improve business practices and ultimately improve the bottom line of many local businesses.

In this current economy businesses cannot afford to take uncalculated risks, and funding streams such as Train to Gain and apprenticeships offer a great opportunity to local businesses to develop the workforce they need for the future.