John Baron MP visits Anisha Grange Care Home to meet apprentices

MP calls on more businesses to take on an apprentice

John Baron MP today visited Anisha Grange Care Home in Outward Common Road, Billericay, to promote apprenticeships. John met with Dorothy Holland and Lee Stribling, Area Officer for Eastern Skills Care from the National Apprentice Service and was introduced to apprentices Deanna Carr, Ricky Kelly and Rob Byrom. John also met with Jack Plane who was on apprentices and is now permanently employed in the Anisha Grange Development Team.

John is calling for more local businesses to take on an apprentice, after new research revealed the extent of the benefits involved.  Every time a local company hires an apprentice, their bottom line gets an average boost of £2,009. This happens immediately, while the apprentice is being trained, and represents the benefit after typical wage and training costs for the East of England are deducted.  Last year, 710 people started an apprenticeship in Basildon and Billericay. This means that new apprentices alone provided a local boost of around £1,426,000 in 2012/13. The number of apprentices has been increasing rapidly. Despite this, surveys show that 60% of small businesses are missing out because they don’t know enough about how apprenticeships work. Many assume that they are difficult to administer and will involve a short-term cost.

John said:

“Congratulations to Anisha Grange Care Homes for providing apprenticeships, which are very important in helping young people gain employment. If they don’t have one already, every local business in Basildon and Billericay should consider employing an apprentice.”

“It’s really important that employers know there are apprenticeships for all shapes and sizes, including those in non-traditional sectors like accounting and law.  Far from being a cost, apprentices bring benefits straight away.”

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said:

“Delivering the best skills is a crucial part of our long-term economic plan for Britain. More apprenticeships mean more opportunities for young people, giving them financial security and Britain a better future.”

Ends

Word Count: 348

Date: 7^th March 2014

Notes to Editors

The attached photos show John with : Jim Shrubb [Town Crier]  and Keith Wood [Trustee Chairman] and Volunteers

Details of the apprenticeships are as follows:

• Deanna Carr, Customer Services Apprentice – level 2 who joined Anisha Grange in November 2013.
• Ricky Kelly, Business Administration Apprentice – level 2 who joined the People & Performance Team, Central Support in February this year.
• Rob Byrom who completed apprenticeship at Anisha Grange and is now completing a Trainee Hospitality Service Manager programme studying the Edexcel Level 4 Diploma in Hospitality Management.

• The research was produced for the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) by Cebr, with data on the net benefits for each region and each Parliamentary constituency in England. A report on the national findings was released on 28 February 2014. It is available on AAT’s website: www.aat.org.uk.
• Cebr is an independent economics consultancy established in 1992 that provides macro and microeconomic research and advice to businesses across a range of sectors, including transport, energy, retail, property and information technology. Cebr undertakes quantitative research using a suite of computer-modelling tools and qualitative methods.
• The gain to an employer of hiring an apprentice can be summarised as:

Employer gain = apprentice output + apprentice subsidies – apprentice wages – apprentice training costs

• The average net benefit delivered by an apprentice varies according to the type of apprenticeship (which ranges from Team Leadership and Management to Hairdressing) and the level and related cost of training involved.
• Cebr calculated the average organisational net benefit from hiring an apprentice in 2012/13 by estimating:

Average apprentice wages in 2012/13.

Average training costs in 2012/13.

Economic output produced by an apprentice in 2012/13

• To estimate apprentice wages Cebr drew on data in the 2011 and 2012 BIS Apprenticeship Pay Surveys. The wage rates have been uprated to give a 2012/13 figure.  Cebr also used data in the 2012 BIS Apprenticeship Pay Survey on average contracted hours for apprentices.
• The largest component of training costs is time spent by the employer providing on-the-job training. Cebr calculated these implicit time costs by using data in the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) on the wage costs of employees in different sectors/occupations in the economy.
• Economic output for an apprentice has been estimated using both wage data in the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and data on economic output and employment costs provided in the ONS Annual Business Survey (ABS). The ABS has enabled Cebr to estimate a relationship between economic output and employment costs in different sectors of the economy, including the economic output produced by an apprentice. Estimates have been adjusted to reflect the “productive capacity” of an apprentice – the extent to which an apprentice can replicate the tasks undertaken by a fully qualified worker. The productive capacity estimates have been based on existing research – in particular McIntosh (2007), “A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Apprenticeships and Other Vocational Qualifications”, Hogarth and Hasluck (2003), “Net Costs of Modern Apprenticeship Training to Employers” and Hogarth and Hasluck (2008), “The Net Benefit to Employer Investment in Apprenticeship Training”