City Tories challenged over apprenticeship opportunities

Brighton and Hove's Conservative Council is facing criticism that as one of the biggest employers in the City, it should be doing more to encourage apprenticeships.

Recent figures have shown a huge rise in the number of people completing apprenticeships across the city.  Labour says the Council, as one of the biggest employers in the City, should be doing more to encourage apprenticeships.

The number of people completing apprenticeships in Brighton and Hove has risen from 100 in 2004 in to 380 in 2008 - a rise of 280% in just 4 years. The number of people completing apprenticeships across the country has risen from 50,000 to 112,000 in the last 4 years; however the number of apprentices at Brighton and Hove City Council is just 19.

Labour Cllr Bob Carden started out as an apprentice in 1954 in Hove as an apprentice tool maker for Kearny and Trecker and said:

"I know the importance of supporting apprenticeships. Without my 5 year apprenticeship as a tool maker I would never have owned my own home or have been able to have made a real career for myself and my family.

"My apprenticeship has equipped me with the vocational skills that I needed throughout my working life and every young person in Brighton and Hove should be given that opportunity.

"Labour is expanding apprenticeships even further in the coming years, which is great news for our area, but we need this Conservative Council to step-up and take advantage of money that is available to them to support apprenticeship schemes in the City."

£140m has been made available to fund a further 35,000 apprenticeship places in 2009/10 with 21,000 of these being in the public sector.  Labour Councillors have therefore pressed the Conservative Council to take advantage of Government investment and take a more proactive approach to local apprenticeships.