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People, apprentices and skills revealed as key to business expansion
Emma Kennedy - March 21, 2016

New research released to mark the start of National Apprenticeship Week has found businesses place apprentices at the heart of their plans to rise to the top and rank hiring the right staff as the most important factor in helping them grow.

Apprenticeships are at the heart of the government’s drive to equip people with the skills that employers need to grow and compete and today’s research shows that eight in ten managers believe apprentices are vital to their organisation’s expansion plans.

The research also showed that managers hiring apprentices were five times more likely to believe the company would expand rapidly, than those that don’t.

Two thirds (61%) of managers in growing firms felt that hiring the right staff or having employees with the right skills was the most important factor in realising the company’s ambitions.

The new independent research found that the right people and skills are ten times more important to businesses when it comes to expansion than access to finance.

National Apprenticeship Week launches on Monday, 14 March with an event at London’s Shard that is designed to encourage more businesses to take on apprentices.

To mark the start of the week, seven top companies are announcing major commitments to apprenticeships, including Starbucks, Prezzo, Fortnum and Mason, Deloitte, Greene King, BT and Addleshaw Goddard.

For more information, visit here.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid said:

“I hope National Apprenticeship Week will inspire many more businesses across the country to commit to taking on an apprentice. Apprenticeships don’t just offer life changing opportunities to our young people, they also deliver for the bottom line. We are committed to 3 million apprenticeships by 2020 because apprenticeships are good for Britain.”