Tim Campbell, the Mayor’s Apprenticeships Ambassador, on the importance of apprenticeships for Londoners and businesses.

Tim Campbell, the Mayor’s Apprenticeships Ambassador, on the importance of apprenticeships for Londoners and businesses alike.

For me this week is about much more than weather forecasts and melting snow. This week the Mayor is backing another big push with London’s businesses to promote apprenticeships and so it is my hope that the media will focus on apprenticeships as well as isobars.

As the Mayor’s Apprenticeships Ambassador I look back on the last year and a half with pride at what we have managed to achieve so far, but also with a sense that there is so much more to be done.

Working with the Mayor's team and the National Apprenticeship Service I have been part of a campaign that has seen a massive increase in the number of apprenticeships available in London. We’re almost at 55,000 apprenticeship starts since it began – well on our way to the 100,000 target we have set ourselves by the end of December 2012.

This is a fantastic achievement, outstripping the rest of the country in growth of apprenticeships. But, I think we can do a lot more by getting even more employers signed up and committed to apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships really do matter. They are good for business and good for Londoners. Of course apprenticeships alone won’t solve youth unemployment. But, they will certainly go a long way to improving the current situation.

As a way of supporting Londoners into jobs and training that is relevant, business led and supports real career progression they are invaluable.

If you run a business in London, visit: www.london.gov.uk/apprentices to find out how apprenticeships could work for you.