BUSINESSES in Cheshire are to share in £11m to create nearly 3,000 new apprenticeship places.
The Government funding is part of a new approach to help employers train the skilled workers of the future, Skills Secretary John Denham and Schools Secretary Ed Balls announced.
Firms which already have a proven track record in offering high-quality apprenticeships will share the cash to train extra apprentices – over and above those they already employ.
This will result in around 3,000 new apprentices being trained at 16 firms across the country over the next two years and allow smaller firms to benefit from the expertise of businesses which have been training apprentices successfully for some time.
Nearly 60% of the funding will be targeted towards 16 to 18-year-olds, with the majority of the remaining support going to support 19 to 24-year-old apprenticeships.
Mr Denham said: “In these tough times we are determined to do all we can to support business to prepare for the upturn.”
