Hat-trick of awards for Borough Council training programme

Published by webmaster for Chesterfield Borough Council in Communities

For the third year in a row, Chesterfield Borough Council's Apprenticeship training programmes have received national recognition by scooping a series of top awards.

A special reception was held in the Town Hall where the Mayor, Cllr Trudi Mulcaster, praised the apprentices and the management team for their efforts and their excellent results.

The awards came from three national bodies, covering both public and private sectors.
John Howe, the Council's Operational Services Manager "I am very proud that we have managed to build on the successes of previous years.

"This year we entered just two of our many eligible apprentices and both Simon Pickering and Joe Dickinson collected either outright winner or runner-up awards at national level from each of the three awarding bodies."

Simon (a 2nd year plumber) led the charge in the ‘Apprentice of the Year’ competition whilst Joe (a 1st year plumber) won through to the National finals of the ‘Young Achiever of the Year’ where he received due recognition for overcoming a life-threatening injury to claim his place on the Apprentice training programme.

The Borough Council was again recognised as an employer that invests heavily in training and for the second year running it won the award for “Excellence in Training Standards”.

The Council beat eight private sector companies to win the Derbyshire heat of the Learning and Skills Council’s “Employer of the Year Awards 2006", went on to win the East Midlands regional finals in Leicester and received a prestigious “Highly Commended" award at the national finals held at the London Hilton. The competition involved 130,000 UK companies who collectively employ 270,000 apprentices.

The Borough's success has prompted the Learning & Skills Council to adopt the Council's training methods as an example of best practice when publishing guidance to employers & Government stakeholders.

Cllr Tony Rogers, the Borough's Lead Member for Homes and Neighbourhoods, said: "This is a tremendous achievement which reflects well both on the apprentices and on the support they receive from the Council's training programme."

The Borough Council currently employs 24 apprentices and is in the process of choosing four new entrants to replace those who complete their training in September.

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Press release issued August 18th 2006