North East apprenticeships have doubled over last ten years. In the North East 30,480 young people started an apprenticeship last year compared to just 13,460 a decade ago in 2005/6 latest figures
show. Two million apprenticeships have been created in the UK since 2010, with 143,000 young people in the North East now getting solid training to start their careers.
In Northumberland 16,640 apprenticeships have been created since 2010, the second highest in the region, behind Durham which has seen a record 28,290 apprenticeships since 2010. In Newcastle 11,670 new apprenticeships have been created since 2010
Figures recently released by the Skills Funding Agency and Department for Business, Innovation & Skills show that in the Hexham constituency 670 apprenticeships were started, compared to 430 in 2009. Just about every set of facts and figures tells the same story. Apprenticeships are up across our region and helping to end the scourge of youth unemployment we saw under the last government. Unemployment is down by over 36% since the 2010 General Election and youth unemployment has also fallen.
When I first became an MP in 2010 one of the key messages I was hearing from business was that as a region we were failing to provide our young people with the skills they needed for work. It will be a
long road to completely turn it around, but we are doing very well.
