21 November 2011
Housing, homes and care services provider Aster Group has been given the chance to help shape the future of apprenticeships in England after attending a government summit chaired by business secretary, Dr Vince Cable MP.
The Devizes-based company was one of a select group of businesses from across the country invited to the London event on Wednesday, 16 November, held at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ conference centre.
Earlier this year, Aster Group unveiled its new apprenticeship scheme, which sees the company providing training and employment opportunities across all of its subsidiary businesses.
Rachel Broome, Aster Group head of learning and development, who represented the company at the summit, said: “It was great to speak to other employers facing the same challenges as us and a fantastic opportunity to share our views and directly influence government policy.
“We have invested a significant amount in our apprenticeship programme, appointing a dedicated co-ordinator and recruiting apprentices into a range of business areas, such as housing and business administration, as well as the more traditional trade apprenticeships. In the coming months, we’ll be working closely with schools to promote careers in the housing sector and will soon be launching a new careers pack to help achieve this.”
At the summit, the business secretary announced a number of measures designed to help companies, including incentive payments of £1,500 to employers with up to 50 staff which recruit apprentices aged 16-24, and help with training costs for adult apprentices for small to medium-sized businesses.
The announcement came as the Office for National Statistics published figures showing that UK unemployment had risen to 2.62 million in the three months to September 2011, with youth unemployment rising to above one million.
The event, which was also attended by John Hayes MP, minister of state for further education, skills and lifelong learning, included a question and answer session which gave attendees the opportunity to quiz both MP’s about the new proposals.
