City Deals in the north are beginning to have an effect. Here, the leader of Leeds city council Keith Wakefield describes a potential breakthrough on apprenticeships
Tomorrow morning I'll join a few dozen of the city's small and medium sized businesses in a solicitor's offices in Leeds. They will be there to learn about a new, independent company being launched to help them invest in their workforce in tough economic times.
This represents a huge milestone in one of the biggest ever devolutions of power in England.
The Leeds Apprenticeship Training Agency (ATA) will reduce the business risk and cut through the confusion and red tape which we know has put many smaller businesses off taking on apprentices, denying them the skills they need to grow their business and to create a badly-needed opportunity for young people in the city to build a career.
Jointly-owned by Leeds City Council and Leeds City College, the ATA is one of the first major products of the City Deal. Working with ten neighbouring authorities, we grasped the opportunity provided by government to get what the city region really needs – more control over spending and decision-making to speed up our recovery and drive future growth; transport, infrastructure, attracting inward investment and developing the skills and opportunities for our young people to build careers and at the same time supply the skilled workforce our businesses need.
This will lead to over £1bn investment in our transport system and infrastructure to increase productivity, lower costs and support exports. We'll also introduce new projects and services like the ATA, an apprenticeships academy for 14-24 year olds and an apprenticeship hub to work with businesses to create 15,000 career opportunities for our talented, motivated young people over the next four years.
We're investing in apprenticeships because we know they work. We have over 7000 apprenticeships starting every year in Leeds; twice as many as two years ago but nowhere near what the city could provide. More and more businesses are recognising that an apprenticeship is not just about giving a motivated young person a chance. Businesses report that apprenticeships often provide a quicker, more cost-effective recruitment, increased productivity, lower staff turnover and a very effective way to bring in the specialist skills.
And parents and young people are realising that they are not a poor relation to traditional qualifications. Every year we see more opting for apprenticeships over A-Levels and even degrees as a route to earning while learning and building a real career.
Apprentices are filling skills needs across the city in everything from tailoring to specialist computer security and advanced technologies. Many have started their careers either building the two world-class developments - the Leeds Arena and Trinity Leeds - set to open in the city in 2013.
The approach we've taken to the City Deal echoes the work we're doing to help redefine what a local authority should look like and do in the future. Leeds co-authored the commission for local government, which laid down the challenge to ourselves, our businesses, voluntary groups and others to become civic entrepreneurs; lending their expertise and skills to serving their community. At the heart of this new approach is a change in the way we work with businesses, voluntary sector and other partners who share our determination to get our city growing, and to tackle big social inequalities.
The ATA board shows this commitment; made up of key public and private sector partners, including the Chamber of Commerce and leading businesses including Leeds Building Society and Town Centre Securities. Together we will help steer the ATA to support small and medium enterprises to invest in their workforce through apprentices, to develop young people's talents and create the skilled workforce our city needs.
So the ATA's launch will symbolise the role we want to play in the future. We want our businesses and partners to see their council as a place where they can have honest conversations, and see their needs reflected in the real support we can offer – because we know that this is as much our job as collecting bins and gritting roads.
Keith Wakefield is Labour leader of Leeds city council.