Women apprentices top of agenda

(L-R) Helen Gorner, LSC partnership director,
Jackie Freeborn, chief executive at B&E-SY and
Dawn Torres, sales manager at Torres Pumps

Business women from across South Yorkshire discovered the many benefits of taking on, and becoming apprentices, at a special ‘Women in Business’ Apprenticeship Seminar organised by the LSC and Business & Education South Yorkshire (B&E-SY) at The Source, Meadowhall, Sheffield.

The event, supported by the South Yorkshire Female Entrepreneurs Network (SYFEN), was designed to inform business women about the £1 billion funding that the Government is putting into Apprenticeships over the next three years and how they could benefit from this.

Dawn Torres, sales manager at Torres Pumps in Sheffield, spoke to the business women about how apprentices have added value and can make a real difference to their businesses. Torres Pumps currently employs four apprentices in mechanical engineering and plans to take two more on before the end of the year.

Dawn said: “It is extremely important that we do more to support young people and make them aware of the many opportunities available to them through Apprenticeships. There is a definite engineering skills shortage in our region which makes it even more important for businesses to act now and start training the next generation’s workforce.

“There is some great untapped talent out there, especially amongst young women, but they need support from friends, family and businesses to be made aware of these opportunities and to develop their talent.”

Helen Gorner, partnership director, for the LSC in South Yorkshire; Jackie Freeborn, chief executive at B&E-SY; and Julie Kenny, managing director of Pyronix Ltd, also spoke to the delegates about how they could get the most out of Apprenticeships and answered queries regarding funding and support available and how businesses could benefit.

Jackie Freeborn, chief executive at B&E-SY, said: “These events are a fantastic opportunity for business women to find out about the new, high-quality standards of Apprenticeships, the substantial funding that will help businesses take on apprentices and the huge benefits that businesses can reap by employing enthusiastic and well trained people.”

For more information on Apprenticeships, visit www.apprenticeships.org.uk