The future's bright says Council Leader Allen Brett

Council Leader Allen Brett with some the council apprentices

I recently had the pleasure of meeting some of the 130 apprentices who have started working with the council during the past 12 months.

I say pleasure because it was just that: we are lucky to have some of the brightest and best young people working for us here.

That's not to mention the pride I feel that we are one of the few public-sector organisations in the country to meet the government-set recruitment target of at least 2.3% of staff being apprentices.

I know it's a cliché, but they really are the future. This group of youngsters could one day be running Number One Riverside (our main offices), which gives me confidence that it will be in very capable hands.

It's not just the biased council leader who believes this, we have been recognised as one of the top employers in the country by the government, which hailed our pioneering apprenticeship scheme as a world beater.

Our apprenticeship programme managers, Andy Turner and Toni Carter, were personally invited to parliament by the Minister for Skills and Apprenticeships, Anne Milton MP, to celebrate our success.

Andy said of the day: "We were delighted to have been invited to parliament by the government minister. It was a brilliant day and the council is really setting the agenda on how to run a successful apprenticeships programme. We are fast becoming the 'go-to' source for good practice which is something to be really proud of".

The borough's future is bright under such an exceptional group of youngsters.