On the first day of National Apprenticeship Week I'm delighted to confirm that our hugely successful Maidstone Apprenticeship Fair is back again on Friday 10 March 2023 at the Maidstone Leisure Centre.
Each year I host this event with other local MPs Tracey Crouch, Helen Grant, and Tom Tugendhat - and this year we're being joined by Greg Clark and Laura Trott taking the number of MPs to 6!
The fair bring together local students with companies looking to take on apprentices, and last year we had around 1,300 students coming from across Kent to see what’s on offer and around 60 employers to chat to. These included Faversham and Mid Kent businesses like MEP Ltd and Shepherd Neame, right the way though to big national employers like Amazon and the NHS.
More and more young people are looking to apprenticeships as an alternative to university, giving them the chance to earn while they learn and develop practical skills which boost their future earnings as well as our economy.
That's why this National Apprenticeship Week the government is launching plans to allow young people to use UCAS to search and apply for apprenticeships alongside degrees, giving them a better understanding of all the options available to them so they can get the best possible start in life.
It's free to exhibit, and if you're a business looking to hire apprentices then please do think about a stand at the Fair. For more information about this, or if you're just interested in coming along, you can email me at [email protected]
