Semta Group hails Trailblazer success

Employers from across 37 more trailblazing sectors ranging from aerospace, automotive and nuclear to fashion and the armed forces, are designing new apprenticeships to best meet the skills needs of their industries. It will bring the total number of employers involved in designing apprenticeships as part of the trailblazers project to more than 1,000. At the request of employers, skills specialist Semta, which represents 138,000 advanced manufacturing and engineering companies, helps design and develop new apprenticeship standards in England. Semta's chief executive, Sarah Sillars, said: "Working alongside employers, training providers and our own awarding organisation EAL, we have developed robust, flexible standards in keeping with the needs of modern industry. "We have ensured the new standards are short, simple, accessible and written by employers in language they understand. We will continue to ensure they are fit for purpose and will deliver a coherent, stretching and quality assured programme of technical skills and knowledge development." Julia Chippendale, managing director of EAL, the specialist awarding organisation for industry, added: "EAL has always worked closely with employers to ensure its qualifications meet their needs and the needs of learners. The government's apprenticeship reforms are taking this policy national, spearheaded by the Trailblazer scheme. This is helping to cement apprenticeships' key role in the economic future of the country. "Trailblazers are seeing employers, awarding organisations and professional institutes working together to set new standards for apprenticeships meet skills needs, increasing the value of the vocational pathway, ensuring learners are getting a better deal from their education and the best possible start to their careers." Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "Across the country apprenticeships are a driving force behind getting young people the skills that employers want and the economy needs. Our reforms have empowered businesses large and small to design and deliver world-beating apprenticeships that offer a real route to a successful career." Launched in October 2013, the trailblazers initiative aims to ensure that every apprentice in England is enrolled on a scheme that has been designed and approved by employers. More than 300 apprentices have now started on approved standards since September 2014 in the automotive and energy and utilities sectors with further starts planned soon.