Apprenticeships promoted to firms at panel event

The panel event takes place at UCM on Homefield Road later

Employers are being urged to consider the benefits that apprenticeship schemes could bring to their island businesses.

University College Isle of Man (UCM) has teamed up with the Manx government's Skills Board to host an event highlighting how the schemes could help with the growth of a firm.

The panel includes business and public sector leaders along with Olly Newton of the Edge Foundation, which promotes the upskilling of young people through education schemes.

Skills Board chairman Peter Reid said the event would tackle the importance of bolstering the abilities of younger workers "head on".

The board recently published a strategy to promote the development of workers on the island, and take steps to plug the current skills gaps as well as those in the future.

Steps have also been taken to overhaul support for the Apprenticeship and the Vocational Training Assistance Scheme with the aim of supporting support local business recruitment.

Peter Reid said apprenticeships had expanded to more than just traditional trades

Increased grants were introduced last year to provide additional incentives for training to be given in sectors of "national importance".

Mr Reid said apprenticeships had evolved from being just in the traditional trades such as construction and engineering, with the model "being adopted more widely in industries such as tech, healthcare and finance, with great success".

"As business leaders, entrepreneurs and managers, we are all aware of the part we play in developing the next generation of the workforce," he said, but added that "most of all we have to make sure that this endeavour supports business operation, goals and growth".

Firms have been asked to register to attend ahead of the event at UCM's Homefield Road campus, which starts at 16:00 GMT.