Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills Robert Halfon MP and Karin Smyth MP meet Aerospace Engineer Degree Apprentices in composites at South Bristol Skills Academy
Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills Robert Halfon MP visited the South Bristol Skills Academy, Hengrove, having been invited by Karin Smyth MP to find out more about the unique skills challenges facing young people in her Bristol South constituency.
The Minister was shown around the £30 million post-16 campus, which opened in 2010, by City of Bristol College Principal Lee Probert and Karin Smyth, and met college apprentices and local employers to discuss their experiences.
“Having made opportunities for young people one of my top priorities as Bristol South MP, I’m delighted the Minister accepted my invitation to come to find out for himself some of the challenges people in my constituency face,” says Karin Smyth.
“It is important we work together to improve the number of apprentices employed in Bristol South, both by local small and medium-sized enterprises and by large firms located elsewhere in the west country.
“Fewer young people living in Bristol South go to university than from any other UK constituency, so other avenues are particularly important. The constituency is also home to some of the most deprived wards in the country, and Bristol South has hardly any large employers, the type of which offer apprenticeships on a large scale.”