Kicking off Apprenticeship Week, City & Guilds and Business in the Community held the first Apprenticeships Summit, bringing together political and business leaders at London's Gherkin to address the barriers to hiring apprentices.

Key attendees

  • Danny Alexander

    Danny Alexander

    Chief Secretary to the Treasury

  • Karren Brady

    Karren Brady

    Vice-Chairman of West Ham Utd and star of ‘The Apprentice'

  • Chris Jones

    Chris Jones

    CEO and Director-General of City & Guilds

  • Gordon Marsden

    Gordon Marsden

    Shadow Minister for Further Education and Skills

  • Geoff Russell

    Geoff Russell

    Chief Executive of the Skills Funding Agency

  • Liz Bell

    Liz Bell

    HR Director of B&Q

Apprenticeships play an invaluable role in unlocking the ambition and talents of young people, as well as giving business and communities the new skills they need to grow and prosper. City & Guilds [...] will be crucial [to] our commitment to work with employers to deliver up to 350,000 new Apprenticeship places in 2011/2012.

John Hayes MP, Minister for Business, Innovation & Skills

Apprentices are key to the
future of the country: it's crucial that Apprenticeships bridge the gap
between what companies need
in order to grow and provide young
and older people with hands-on experience, guidance and qualifications which develop and recognise real skills
in a career they want.

Karren Brady, Vice-Chairman of
West Ham Utd

Highlights from the Summit

Many pressing issues were raised for employers taking on apprentices. Key topics included...

  • Brand attracts: We can never underestimate the power of a name to attract talent. For companies with little presence, partnering with a better-known brand will help attract a more motivated workforce.
  • SME barriers: Smaller businesses are more susceptible to risk, which increases the perceived barriers to hiring apprentices. It's imperative that Government, larger businesses and training centres collaborate to help support them.
  • Starting Apprenticeships early: Preparing apprentices for the demands of industry is a key challenge. Easing the learning curve by bringing Apprenticeships into schools could be a way around this, through close collaboration between employers, training centres and schools.

Building Business Through Apprenticeships

At the Summit, we launched our employer-focused research report on Apprenticeships, addressing the barriers businesses face in hiring apprentices – and how, working together, we can overcome them.

Get the Full Report

Building Business Apprenticeships Summary Report
(PDF, 1.1MB)