London Apprenticeship Company

For Apprenticeship Week 2011 LAC structured a panel discussion followed by an afternoon of interactive activities around the themes of respect, apprenticeships and “the future for young people”. One important purpose of this consultation event was to compile a report about what you had to say about these issues. The report will be fed right back to central Government... So it really was a great opportunity to have your say!

The afternoon began with a heated panel discussion between the young people and a selection of high profile guests including Richard Barnes Deputy Mayor for London and Tim Campbell, winner of the BBC’s show The Apprentice, founder of Bright Ideas Trust and also advisor to the Mayor on Apprenticeships. The discussion ranged from individual apprenticeship queries about getting into specific fields of work, to young people asking the Deputy Mayor for London how the government intends to help young people into apprenticeships and encourage more employers to take on apprentices in the current climate.

The discussion was really positive, with the panel members and the young people seeming to agree on at least one thing; that apprenticeships are a really good way to help tackle youth unemployment and skills shortages, and they are a genuine alternative to University. One young person said:
 

“I believe the Government should help youngsters, and make them aware of what’s around us, it’s not just going to uni, there are other options and they are all equal.”

Later on in the afternoon during a “diary room” interview activity some young people expressed their views about apprenticeships, their experience of finding work and experience of London Apprenticeship Company in greater personal detail. Here is a snippet of some of the comments that were made:

Ezekiel Erinoso said: “Personally I felt the event was amazing. It gave young people the chance to REALLY interact with a panel full of great professionals”.

“All MP’s should have an apprentice if they want to back the apprenticeship route!”

“I believe there are a lot opportunities if you go out there and look for yourselves...the more effort you put in the more answers you’re going to get... if you’re going to be sitting at home you won’t get answers”

“I think the London Apprenticeship Company is an amazing organisation. They help young people to get to where they want to be”

With over 50 young Londoners taking part, from a range of different backgrounds, the outcome of the consultations’ discussions and activities have proved invaluable to the formation of an important report. The afternoon was thoroughly enjoyable and demonstrated a need to consult young people more often! We hope to have many more like this in the future!

To those of you who were able to make it to the LAC’s Respect Consultation last week, thank you! YOU made it happen! The event was a huge success! We hope you got as much out of it as we did. Going on some of your feedback you would like to see more events like this, we’ll see what we can do!

We have lots more pictures from the event - visit our Facebook page to have a look...