The MP for Warwick and Leamington visited Royal Leamington Spa College to speak with electrical engineering apprentices as part of National Apprenticeship Week.
Matt Western MP, who is also Shadow Minister for Higher Education, visited the college to learn about its apprenticeships offer and met with current electrical engineering apprentices to learn about their experiences.
He received a tour of a workshop at the college, which is part of college group WCG, and was given the opportunity to see first-hand around 10 first-year apprentices honing their craft on the workbenches.
Peter Husband, Royal Leamington Spa College Director, and Alan May, Director of Apprenticeships at WCG, showed Western around the college during the visit.
Matt Western MP said: “I was pleased to visit the Leamington College campus during National Apprenticeship Week and see first-hand the apprenticeships being undertaken locally.
“I spoke with a number of electrician apprentices who gave me a great insight into their courses and the pathway to their future career. They’re receiving great practical training and are clearly optimistic about their futures.
“It’s vital we recognise the importance and value of apprenticeships.”
National Apprentice Week ran from February 6 to 12 and is a government initiative to increase awareness of the opportunities in apprenticeship and boost apprenticeship enrolment across the UK. This is year’s theme was Skills for Life.
During National Apprenticeship Week, the college group also held a double decker bus tour which visited 13 schools and two colleges across Coventry, Warwickshire and Worcestershire for school students to learn about the range of apprenticeships the college group offers.
Peter Husband added: “It was great to welcome Matt Western to Royal Leamington Spa College as part of our National Apprenticeship Week programme.
“Matt took the time to speak with each of the apprentices in the workshop, discovering why they chose to follow the apprenticeship pathway and finding out about their aspirations for the future.
“The visit closed a fantastic and activity-filled week for WCG, which included spreading the apprenticeship message around schools across the Midlands with our double-decker apprenticeship bus tour.
“Our programmes offer students a great route into the workforce and our apprenticeships which include horticulture, engineering and animal care continue to help to bridge industries’ skill gaps, increase employment and boost the regional economy.”
WCG is the largest college provider of apprenticeship training in the region, working with over 1,100 regional and national employers to train up to 2,000 apprentices every year across a variety of sectors.
To find out more about apprenticeships at WCG visit https://wcg.ac.uk/apprenticeships
Picture caption: Peter Husband, Matt Western MP and Alan May.