This week from February 7 - 11 February we celebrate National Apprenticeship Week.
Apprenticeships are a crucial way to address skills shortages, invest in future talent, and help more people in Tynedale and Ponteland access high skilled, high wage jobs.
Apprenticeships are all about partnerships. They involve employers, training providers, individuals, end point assessment organisations, parents, ambassadors and many more stakeholders working together.
Since 2015, 3,200 people across Tynedale and Ponteland have started apprenticeships.
The 15th National Apprenticeship Week (February 7-13) is designed to showcase the positive impact that apprenticeships make on individuals, businesses and the wider economy.
I recently went to Essity's Prudhoe Mill Site to meet with some of the apprentices. Global companies with sites in the region, like Essity, can offer fantastic careers to talented young people choosing not to go to university, instead opting to earn while they learn.
At Prudhoe Mill, male and female school leavers are paid well above the minimum apprentice starting salary. I would encourage young people across Tynedale and Ponteland to consider applying for these opportunities.
