Councillor J McMahon
Office of the Leader of the Council,
Room 347, Level 3,
Civic Centre, West Street,
Oldham
OL1 1UL

11 February 2014

Dear Cllr McMahon,

Re: The 7th National Apprenticeships’ Week – 3-7 March 2014

As you will be aware,, the National Apprenticeships’ Week, promoted by the National Apprenticeship Service, will soon be upon us.

The week is an opportunity to promote the value of apprenticeships to employers and to prospective applicants.

In the latest reported figures, over half a million employees were in apprenticeships, almost 50% more than when this Government came into office, in large measure because of significant public investment made through the Youth Contract.

Although, traditionally apprenticeships were seen as the preserve of young employees and historically male and, largely confined to the “metal bashing industries”, apprenticeships are now proving ever more popular with women and older workers as a vocational route.

So the success of apprenticeships is something we should all celebrate – indeed Get Oldham Working will in large part be judged by its success in getting our young people into apprenticeships.

I would therefore like to ask you if you can outline what this Council intends to do to promote apprenticeships in this borough during the National Apprenticeships Week?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

Howard Sykes