It takes a lot to impress me these days, but a visit this morning to SW Durham Training in Newton Aycliffe really did. The technology, training tools, equipment….incredible.

Four hours looking at what is being done, listening to concerns about the Council and government and a raft of other things was very informative.

What was shocking however was that there are still companies out there crying out for qualified people in a whole raft of engineering and manufacturing areas in County Durham but can’t find them. Indeed nearly all apprentices who go through SW end up working in very good highly paid jobs.

We very clearly have a problem when with rising unemployment we still can’t get young people interested in taking apprenticeships in these industries. I really do think that it is time for schools to start explaning as the representative at SW told us that there are jobs paying £45,000 out there, that welders, high tech machine operatives, designers etc, etc are desperately needed, that the jobs are interesting and that smaller companies in the North East in industry really are doing very well.

I have come to the conclusion that the priority for the Council must be to do all it can to facilitate getting our young people interested in and into these professions. With Hitachi on the way, shortages of skilled workers, and more money coming soon for apprenticeships from the government, this must be the priority.

That said, the government needs to look at the funding, as does the council and realise that it costs more money to take on engineering apprenticeships than other industries because of training costs and materials costs. Equally we must make sure that there is help not just for 16-19 year olds but also for those older than this. It is a crazy situation when the funding for a 20 year old is half that for a 17 year old, when many companies really value young people of all ages.

The County Council must put money in to help with transport issues, help with training funding and help getting Year 10 and 11 year olds from our secondary school to visit places like SW training and other similar organisations. If we continue to tell our young people that there is no future in manufacturing, engineering and electronics, we will reap what we sow.

And the Government must re-analyse how it funds apprenticeships to put more emphasis on these sectors NOW.