Government says council’s apprenticeship team is one of the best in the country

Andy Turner and Toni Carter (middle two) who lead the council's apprenticeship team

The country’s leading politician on apprenticeships has thanked Rochdale Borough Council for its commitment, enthusiasm and drive to helping young people find good-quality jobs.

In a letter to the council’s apprenticeships team the Rt Hon Anne Milton MP, Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, said Rochdale Borough Council was one of the top performing apprenticeship employers in the country and that it had a high-quality apprenticeship programme.

Ms Milton MP thanked the team for its support and acknowledged that building apprenticeship programmes into workforce planning took time and investment. She encouraged the team to keep up the good work to continue in helping grow a skilled workforce.

In response to the letter Councillor Kieran Heakin, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “The team fully deserve all the praise and recognition they are getting. The whole council has a great commitment to apprentices and so many people play a key role in continuing the success of our programmes, I am very proud of all we have achieved.”

The national praise rounds off a very successful 2018 for the team, during which they:

• Started 135 apprenticeship programmes, across the council and schools, of which 55 were brand new posts. This was the 19th highest number of starts for public sector organisations in the whole of the country
• Won the ‘Macro Employer of the Year’ and ‘Recruitment Excellence’ awards at the 2018 North West Apprenticeship Awards, and were national finalist in both categories
• Were invited to the House of Commons to be praised for being a driving force delivering high quality apprenticeships
• Had the highest ever recorded figures for young people entering apprenticeships straight after school
• Won the Innovation Award at the council’s ACE Awards
• Shortlisted for an LGC Award 2019 in the innovation category, winner announced in January 2019
• Current apprentice Chloe Johnson won Young Employee of the Year at the council’s ACE awards and a former apprentice, now in a permanent post with the council, Georgia Harden, won the Learner of the Year at the council’s ACE awards

Toni Carter, who leads the council’s apprenticeship programme, said: “We are delighted with this but our work is such a team effort across the council, school and our providers. We couldn’t achieve any of this without a really dedicated set of apprentices who are enthusiastic and committed to the learning and development of their future careers with us here at Rochdale Council.”