Apprentices success story to end?
8 Mar 2012
London – T?ime is running out for the Tees Valley Apprenticeship Programme (TVAP) in the North East of England, despite its success in finding almost 300 apprenticeship places in just two years - double its initial target number.
TVAP was set up early in 2010 as a public and private sector initiative to protect 150 apprentices deemed ‘at risk’ of not concluding their apprenticeship as a result of a string of closure announcements at that time in the local steel and chemicals industries.
Costing £1.82 million and led by Sembcorp, TVAP found other sponsors for the young people to enable them to complete their apprenticeships. They also created a further 149 new apprenticeships in the process.
TVAP also hugely exceeded another key target - to engage 60 local employers. It has actually involved 134 to date, including 80 SMEs and 43 firms who had never employed an apprentice before.
Partner organisations involved in TVAP have included the National Skills Academy for the Process Industries (NSAPI) through which it has been managed, the National Apprenticeship Service, major industrial companies such as Sembcorp, SABIC and Lotte Chemical and training providers TTE and Semta.
“[The scheme] has exceeded everyone’s wildest expectations and proved a phenomenal success for businesses throughout the Tees Valley,” according to George Ritchie, Sembcorp Industries’ senior vice president for HR in the western hemisphere, and chairman of the TVAP initiative for the past two years.
However, funding for TVAP is set to come to an end by April, and the the scheme’s backers are now trying to persuade the UK government to find an alternative form of financial support.
The plan, which is supported by local MPs, would enable the scheme to continue for a further two years. By this time it should be self-sustaining its supporters suggest.
(Full report in March/April edition of Process Engineering)
