Clegg applauds North East crane company’s apprenticeship support

A North East manufacturing giant has been commended by the Deputy Prime Minister for the work it does to support apprenticeships.

Liebherr Sunderland Works, based on the banks of the Wear, has been named among the top 100 employers in the country in the City and Guilds and National Apprenticeship Service (NAS)’s official 2013 list of UK businesses that support apprentices.

Nick Clegg MP has congratulated the business; in a letter to the company’s managing director, Mr Clegg highlighted the need for businesses to support apprenticeships and commends Liebherr on its work.

Mr Clegg wrote: “Apprenticeships are at the heart of our drive for a stronger economy: equipping people of all ages with the skills employers need to help their businesses prosper and compete in a global market.

“As we work to increase the opportunities for hard-working young people to achieve their ambitions through high-quality apprenticeship training, it is vitally important that we celebrate the achievements of employers like you, who go the extra mile to help their apprentices succeed.”

Liebherr Sunderland Works, which employs 200 people, has helped train more than 60 apprentices over the last five years and currently more than 15 per cent of its workforce are apprentices.

Ralph Saelzer, managing director of the Deptford-based business, said that the company had a genuine commitment to supporting young people to enter the industry.

He said: “We recognised, some years ago, that we had an ageing workforce and that we needed to address it quickly to ensure that we could continue to meet customer demand.

“As part of a family-run business, we really do believe in looking after our people, and indeed in supporting the community in which we operate. Delivering apprenticeship programmes is something we are proud to do and I am a strong advocate of this route for businesses of all sizes, operating across all sectors – not just manufacturing.

Liebherr, which manufactures cranes for customers around the world, was named winner of the NAS’s regional awards in the medium employer category for the work it does to support the drive for apprentices.

The company represented the North East in the national finals held on Thursday, November 14 and was one of the three shortlisted companies in its category, receiving an award as a ‘National Highly Commended Medium Employer of the Year 2013’.

“We have a responsibility, as employers, to bring through the next generation, and our commitment to apprenticeships is one way of doing just that.”

Mr Saelzer added: “As a business, we are totally behind apprenticeships and I really do hope that the success we have seen as a result helps to convince many more companies to invest in young people.”

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