08 Apr 2010
Source: P Smith
1,542 people in North Lanarkshire have begun Modern Apprenticeships over the past year.
The local figure has added to the total of nearly 20,000 Modern Apprenticeships created across Scotland, which exceeds the Scottish Government's target of delivering more than 18,500 MAs, set as part of last year's Budget.
The apprentices in North Lanarkshire have found training and skills opportunities in sectors such as Construction, Customer Services and Health and Social Care.
Skills Development Scotland chair Willy Roe said: "This announcement shows in tangible terms what the Modern Apprenticeship and ScotAction programmes have been able to deliver for Scotland's people in a very challenging economic environment.
"This is due to hard work and commitment from a range of partners, the employers who have shown belief in the apprenticeships and the apprentices themselves.
"Programmes like this allow us to assist Scottish businesses to develop their skills base at a point when they need to be at their most productive, as well as increasing employment opportunities for people across a wide range of sectors."
Directing resources towards skills and training to manage the ongoing employment pressures in Scotland is a crucial element of the Scottish Government's Economic Recovery Plan. Work is under way across the public sector to deliver that plan, accelerate recovery and improve the long term performance of Scotland's economy.
The Scottish Government is committed to Modern Apprenticeships as part of the strategy to deliver skills solutions for current and emerging Scottish needs. £16million was provided in additional support for the Modern Apprenticeship programme to deliver an additional 7800 new start Apprentices in 2009/10. This took the total number of new starts in 2009/10 to 18,500, a 73 per cent increase on the previous year.
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