News and features

Tue, 10 Mar 2009

Skills minister meets BT apprentices

Lord Young meets trainees from BT and Ford to discuss the benefits of on-the-job training.

Skills minister Lord Tony Young visited the BT telephone exchange in Primrose Hill, north London on Friday (February 27th) as part of Apprenticeship Week.

Lord Young began his career in the telecoms sector and returned to his former industry to meet young apprentices making their own start in the world of work.

On the final day of Apprenticeship Week, the minister shadowed BT Openreach apprentices Christopher Edwards and Joshua Maclean, as well as meeting other young trainees such as Nicholas Fan & Sally Gentry.

"For me, an apprenticeship was the ideal way to learn transferable skills, not only for the industry that I began my career but also for life in general," Lord Young said.

"Spending the day with apprentices at BT is an enriching and encouraging experience," he added.

Last week, Lord Young visited the Central Sussex College campus in Crawley to open a new workshop for apprentices at Ford, the car manufacturer.

The college was awarded a three-year contract to deliver the Ford Masters Apprentice Programme in 2008, with 120 trainee technicians set to benefit from the new workshop.

Lord Young was full of praise for the apprentices and told the Crawley News that speaking to them about their training had been "the highlight of my day".

"They are articulate and intelligent and really see the benefits of their training," he commented.

Tim Campbell, entrepreneur and winner of the first series of The Apprentice, also visited the college campus on Wednesday (February 25th).

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