IN BUSINESS MP aims to boost career opportunities
EAST Runcorn and midCheshire MP Mike Amesbury has met a training chief to thrash out how to boost career opportunities and the availability of apprenticeships.
Mr Amesbury, Labour, Weaver Vale, held the meeting with Pat Jackson, head of skills at Cheshire And Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).
The discussed issues around business, training and employment in the constituency.
A spokesman for Mr Amesbury said that during the session, he heard about how the LEP’s employers’ skills and education board was working with other organisations and had identified three key priorities for action.
He said these were to ensure that everyone in Cheshire and Warrington is informed about career and progression opportunities by putting employers at the heart of inspiring and communicating to young people, parents and teachers and individuals seeking work; to improve the overall quality of education and skills provision by supporting groups of employers in key sectors to work together with training and education providers, local authorities and others to develop packages of training and education with a focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) and digital skills and the key sectors identified in the LEP’s strategic economic plan; and to establish a communications hub to provide coherent messages about jobs, career pathways and progression opportunities and training and education offers across Cheshire and Warrington.
Mr Amesbury has now pledged to provide his backing in parliament and will also be meeting again with the LEP to discuss progress.
He said: “Training and apprenticeships are hugely important and these kinds of opportunities are something I want to see more of for residents in Weaver Vale.
“I’ve spoken many times about how I want to see quality jobs brought here rather than the zero hours ‘gig economy’ jobs the Government seems to love so much.
“My constituency has a lot of high tech, quality employers and by creating more training and apprenticeship opportunities we can get more local people into those good quality jobs and create a race to the top, rather than a race to the bottom.” ●