NEWS ARCHIVE
National Apprenticeship Week Celebrations at Cornwall College Business
Cornwall College Business (CCB) is the largest provider of apprenticeships in the South West, with over 1700 apprentices in training in hundreds of different sectors and job roles.
This month CCB celebrated National Apprenticeship Week with a series of special events across the many different businesses they partner with, in order to highlight the benefits that apprenticeship training can bring to business.
The week was launched by Dave Linnell, CEO & Principal of Cornwall College, who met with apprentices at St Austell Brewery; an employer who has benefited from apprenticeship training for many years. Mr Linnell and James Staughton, Managing Director of St Austell Brewery spoke to apprentices and said: “We recognise the vital role that training and apprenticeships play in helping people develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in today's environment. We are proud to partner with Cornwall College Business on the apprenticeship programme and see apprenticeship training as hugely important to develop skills our business needs for the future.”
Recent research completed by Cornwall College Business highlights an increasing trend from Cornish businesses to utilise apprenticeship training programmes in their businesses, with 50 per cent of businesses questioned stating that they were considering taking on an apprentice with CCB this year.
Pendennis Shipyard run an extensive and award winning apprenticeship programme with Cornwall College Business and this week five managers from CCB spent an afternoon as engineering apprentices to find out what the training is really like. The Mayor of Truro also found out what apprenticeship training is like as he got technical with Philip Hevican, an IT apprentice at Truro Computer Services and a Deputy-Head teacher from Truro was given a firsthand insight into the life of an apprentice when he joined a former pupil and electro-technical apprentice, Chris Lawrence, now working with Tecker Ltd.
As the Government released details this week about a new apprenticeship incentive grant for businesses, Stephen Gilbert, MP Newquay and St Austell, and George Eustice, MP Camborne and Redruth, have both visited Cornwall College Business apprentices in their places of work in order to understand how effective the programmes can be.
Mr Gilbert said: “It is wonderful to be able to celebrate National Apprenticeship Week as the government doubles the amount of money being invested in apprenticeship training. The professional relationship Cornwall College Business has developed with the business community is an excellent example of how apprenticeship programmes and training providers are meeting the needs of businesses in Cornwall, now and in the future.”
Dave Linnell, the CEO and Principal of Cornwall College said: “The combination of practical learning in the workplace alongside teaching from industry experts from Cornwall College is proven to be hugely beneficial to businesses. More and more employers are using these programmes as a way to develop essential skills within their businesses and we are delighted to be highlighting some of the successes during National Apprenticeship Week.”
For more information about the new funding opportunities and apprenticeship programmes available contact Cornwall College Business www.ccb.cornwall.ac.uk / 0800 731 7594 / enquiries@ccb.cornwall.ac.uk
