£190 million worth of additional funding for apprenticeships was announced last week in George Osbourne’s budget. Here, IT entrepreneur and co-founder of Prism Solutions Gary David Smith, discusses how the AGE grants for employments can become instrumental in finding work for young people:
“The vital factor in skills training for young people is to get the right balance between learning and doing. With one million youngsters without work or training in Britain and the high-tech industries crying out for new blood, designing the right apprenticeships has become a fundamental issue.
“I believe the key is in the design of the apprenticeships. The AGE scheme should be expanded so that SME’s can engage with youngsters whilst they are still in full time education.
“At Prism we have developed our own scheme that assists students to get involved with the company whilst they are still receiving education and the on-the-job training and learning can develop at the same time.
“This approach will help regional companies to retain interested youngsters who may otherwise think they have to leave the area to develop their careers.”
