Apprenticeship starts in engineering and advanced manufacturing have increased by more than 85% in the past two years, new figures have revealed.
Every region in England has seen a significant rise in new apprentices in the past two years with the West Midlands (227%), East Midlands (174%), North East (133%) and Yorkshire and Humber (109%) leading the way.
The latest figures released by Semta, the sector skills council for science, engineering and advanced manufacturing, show most of the new starts have been at intermediate level (142%), with a smaller rise (23%) in the number of advanced and higher level apprentices.
Skills minister Matthew Hancock MP said, “Engineering is fundamental to our ambition of creating balanced growth, and these figures demonstrate the rapid progress this government has made in tackling the skills gap – a key element in supporting this sector.
“We know there is more to be done to address the demand for engineers and will continue to work with key players in industry to remove barriers limiting the supply of new talent.”
Semta Chief Executive Sarah Sillars said, “These figures are extremely encouraging. These are real jobs, many paying well above the national average, with young people earning as they learn new skills.
“But we shouldn’t rest on our laurels. Engineering and manufacturing still has an image problem – we need more teachers and parents to understand apprenticeships will benefit their children and not somebody else’s.
“The sector needs to recruit 82,000 people just to cover retirements up to 2016 so there is a real opportunity for young people so much more needs to be done to attract them into engineering and advanced manufacturing.”
The figures were published yesterday to coincide with a meeting jointly hosted by Semta and the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) at the House of Lords to update Mr Hancock on their Apprenticeship Ambition partnership. The agreement outlined by Semta and NAS aims to double the number of Advanced and Higher Level Apprenticeships for the advanced manufacturing and engineering sector by 2015/16.
UK automotive is committed to attracting the brightest and best talent into the sector to ensure a strong manufacturing base in the UK. Click through to find out more about skills, training, apprenticeships and careers in UK automotive.
