Skills and Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock announced a new range of apprenticeships that will be developed by employers under the Trailblazer scheme on 27 June 2014. He also called for expressions of interest from groups of employers to become part of the third phase of Trailblazers.
The Apprenticeship Trailblazers, launched in October 2013, have gone from strength to strength. The first phase of Trailblazer sectors includes energy & utilities, digital industries, financial services, life sciences and industrial sciences. Businesses from each sector worked together and produced new concise employer-led standards for key apprenticeship roles in their industry. These were launched in March 2014 and the first apprenticeships under the new standards will be delivered in 2014/15.
Building on their success, the businesses involved will now work on standards for more occupations that they see as crucial to developing their workforce and that will provide new opportunities for young people. The new range of occupations includes:
- workplace pensions
- aerospace machinist
- IT practitioner
- laboratory and healthcare science
- investment operations
Skills and Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock said:
The apprenticeship Trailblazers have already made great strides in developing a simpler and more rigorous system which works for employers and apprentices. Their commitment to develop more apprenticeship standards demonstrates the support our reforms have from employers.
Equipping all young people with the skills they need to begin prosperous and productive careers is a vital part of our long-term economic plan. Apprenticeships give young people the chance to fulfil their potential while helping to drive business growth.
We want to give more employers in more sectors the chance to lead the development of apprenticeship standards for their industries. That is why we will launch a third phase of Trailblazers later this year and I would encourage groups of employers to step forward and take this opportunity.
Please call if you would like to discuss the possibility of developing an apprenticeship scheme for your business.