Karen is ahead of the rest after our awards

and reverse engineering across a range of industries. We recently built the left wing of a vintage Porsche, that had been damaged in a crash, by scanning the intact right side, mirroring it and replicating it.”

As well as plastic laser sintering, from March next year the 3M BIC will be able to offer metal additive manufacture, which will enable businesses to create detailed prototypes in titanium, stainless steel or other metals to support product development.

The 3M BIC also provides business support and other technology services, from high performance computing and data analytics, to design, visualisation and laser cutting. QUARTER of employers of apprentices in Yorkshire and the Humber are uncertain how much their trainees should be paid, a survey has revealed.

The findings from the Learning And Work Institute come after a government survey showed one in five apprentices across England reported being paid less than the minimum wage to which they are legally entitled.

Among Yorkshire and the Humber employers who employ apprentices now or had recently employed them, 26% were unaware apprenticeships required 20% off-the-job training while 12% did not know off-the-job training needed to be paid.

Almost a quarter of them did not know that minimum wage rates rose after the first year of an apprenticeship.

The institute said more needed to be done to ensure all employers were aware of the rules and that minimum wage entitlements and likely changes should be set out at the start of the apprenticeship, with training providers taking a lead. It said apprentices should be clear about what to do if they think there is a problem.

Chief executive Stephen Evans said: “The expansion of apprenticeships is a good thing, it can help us meet our post-Brexit skills needs and give people the chance to earn and learn.

“However, it’s clear we need to do more to ensure everyone is aware of the rules.

“For example, we think that training providers could play a bigger role in making sure employers know the minimum wage rules.”

The survey of 2,000 employers across England found high awareness of the National Minimum Wage, but low awareness of the rules for apprentices.