Let us unite to make the new apprenticeship reforms work, urges DAVID HARBOURNE, director of the Learning and Skills Council North Yorkshire.

The recent announcement by the Government that more young people are to get the chance to learn skills through radical reforms to apprenticeships was very welcome - but it will only happen if businesses throughout the UK get on board, and that includes those in York and North Yorkshire.

It is vital that we all work in partnership - employers, individuals, training and education providers and the Learning and Skills Council - to ensure that even more young people and even more businesses will get the benefit of this exciting new approach to work-based learning.

A whole range of ways into apprenticeships is included within the new plans, starting with the Young Apprenticeships which offer high-quality opportunities for motivated pupils aged 14 to 16 to spend two days a week in the workplace learning a trade.

There will also be a Pre-Apprenticeship programme for those young people who have potential but who may not yet be ready or able to start a full apprenticeship and Post-16 Apprenticeships which build on the strengths already developed through the Modern Apprenticeships and Advanced Modern Apprenticeships. Over time, we will also be able to fund more apprenticeships for people aged over 24.

Locally, we are experimenting with apprenticeships for adults, and the early indications are that they are popular with individuals and employers alike. We would like to extend this over the next couple of years so that more people can retrain for new jobs and new trades at any time in their working lives.

But with demand from young people outstripping the supply of places on offer from employers, the active involvement of businesses throughout York and North Yorkshire will be critical to the success of this exciting new initiative.

Employers need to know that they will now be in the driving seat. Working through Sector Skills Councils, you can now have more input into the design and development of apprenticeships. Your input will help develop greater "portability" so that an apprentice can take a part-completed apprenticeship with them if they move employer, exactly the sort of flexibility that employers have been crying out for.

Apprenticeships are a vital part of developing the workforce of the future. They provide young people and adults with "on the job" training at the same time as earning a wage, and offer an excellent route into a successful career.

They make good sense for businesses too.

Many businesses within York and North Yorkshire have cited skills shortages as one of the hurdles they must overcome, and these new apprenticeships offer an important opportunity for us to work in partnership to ensure that skills shortages will soon become a thing of the past.

Updated: 09:36 Tuesday, June 01, 2004