
Torfaen Apprenticeship Fair introduces pupils to new careers
More than 20 employers and training providers attended, offering Year 10 pupils insights into apprenticeship pathways across South Wales.
Mr Thomas-Symonds said: "Apprenticeships provide valuable skills and training in a number of sectors, giving young people the solid foundation for a successful career.
"As local MP, supporting businesses and pushing for opportunities for young people in Torfaen are absolute priorities, so I'm delighted I could deliver this event alongside local schools, businesses, and training providers."
Apprenticeship training providers including Coleg Gwent and the Aspire Shared Apprenticeship Programme were on hand to support employers and answer student questions.
Richard Selby, managing director of Pro Steel Engineering, said: "Recruiting apprentices has helped us grow our business whilst providing opportunities for people in our local community.
"We were delighted to attend today's event so we could share our growth plans for the future and inspire more local young people to consider a career with us."
Neil Gregory, director at GOS Tool & Engineering Services Ltd, said: "Once again GOS are delighted to support Nick in pulling this event together and working alongside both national and local governments, schools, colleges and career services to provide this opportunity for young people in Torfaen."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Daily Mirror
NICK THOMAS-SYMONDS: 'We can't allow the historic fires powering our steel industry to go out'
EU Relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said a deal with the EU 'will save the UK steel industry millions' by smoothing Brexit barriers and making it easier to export goods Few jobs are harder than working in a steel mill. But the physical, intense work builds resilience and pride in our historic steelworker communities. My Dad worked in Llanwern Steelworks when I was growing up in South Wales. I remember feeling a sense of awe when I went there as a child and understood what he did every working day. Growing up, I felt the pride he took in his work. The UK has a proud history of steelmaking. But its future hasn't always been clear. International over-production of steel and a spike in energy costs have created a difficult trading situation for British companies. Prices for steel have dropped just as the costs of making it have gone up. And the industry has been threatened by tariffs too. But thanks to the new relationship this government has built with the EU, tariff-free access to their market for our construction-grade steel to traditional trade levels has been restored. This will save the UK steel industry millions. We cannot allow the historic fires that power our steel industry to go out. It is a 37,000- worker strong sector, supporting thousands of families in towns across the UK. And we have made a choice to put communities across the UK first. You can see it with our Industrial Strategy and in our international negotiations. 'International negotiations' can sound distant. Something done far away that isn't always easy to explain. It can be hard to work out the tangible impacts on people's lives. But this shows it; they can save industries millions. They protect jobs. As Minister for EU Relations, I want to strike a new relationship with our largest trading partner, one built around trust and cooperation. To get rid of the approach that the Tories and Nigel Farage want to take - adversarial, fuelled by suspicion and ideology. It led to a weaker trading relationship. It risked British industry at home. They still want to reverse the deal. Putting their parties over the interest of the country. There's no denying the strength of British steel, forged over generations in Scunthorpe, the mills near my constituency in Port Talbot and many other towns and cities. Through our new pragmatic working relationship with the EU, we have provided a vital boost to this critical UK industry.


Times
3 days ago
- Times
Commercial court moves to go public on supporting evidence
The commercial court is to pilot a scheme that will make publicly available 'the documents considered by the judge to be critical to understanding a case': skeleton arguments, written submissions, witness statements and expert reports. Subject to ministerial approval, Mrs Justice Cockerill told the London Solicitors Litigation Association, the documents will be placed on the public section of the court case management system. The process, she said, will be done 'cheaply, quickly' and 'risk free', removing the need for the press or the public to make applications to view them. Cockerill said the scheme is designed to bridge the 'big transparency gap' between the criminal and civil courts that prevents the press and public from understanding cases in the latter. All evidence and arguments in criminal trials are made orally, and documents are read out, meaning that observers 'will understand it perfectly', the judge said. In civil cases, where witnesses' evidence is introduced by written statements not available to the public and almost no documents are read out loud, 'a member of the public has no chance of following what goes on in court'. The Judicial Appointments Commission must pay half of the costs incurred by Kate Thomas, a barrister and part-time district judge, who challenged the fairness of the selection process after she wasn't promoted to the circuit bench in 2021. The Court of Appeal's ruling a fortnight ago was a bit of a score draw. Reflecting Thomas's partial victory the court has ruled that the taxpayer-funded appointment body should pay 50 per cent of her legal costs, which is likely to land it with a £100,000 bill. And it is thought that the commission's legal bill will be steep too — officials instructed three barristers, led by Sir James Eadie KC, who since 2009 has been the first treasury counsel. • Read more law stories and insights from our experts The University of Hertfordshire's law school has a novel boast — senior staff are convinced that its full-scale replica crown court is 'probably the most filmed courtroom setting in the UK's film and TV industry'. Over the past two years the imitation courtroom has hosted four scenes for EastEnders, and one each for Holby City, a BBC documentary, an ITV series and a Netflix film. Three other documentary-makers have booked the venue, and it has been used by police forces, the Environment Agency, and the local county council for staff training. Students are involved in external training days for organisations as they act as legal counsel — occasionally kitted out in full wig and gowns.


Times
3 days ago
- Times
Civil service numbers at 20-year high despite pledge to cut costs
The civil service is becoming increasingly top-heavy as thousands of staff are hired despite a pledge to cut costs. There were 549,660 civil servants at the end of March. This is up almost 7,000 on the same time last year, putting the size of Whitehall at a 20-year high. The civil service has now grown by a third since Brexit and pay rose 5 per cent last year. Critics say staff are 'over-promoted' as a way of boosting salaries. The latest figures show 75 per cent of staff are in management roles and above, compared with 60 per cent a decade ago. Civil service middle management, known as grades 6 and 7, grew 5 per cent last year after doubling over the previous decade. Growth in the top ranks of Whitehall also accelerated, up 3.2 per cent last year. 'It is a continuation of the grade inflation story', said Alex Thomas, programme director at the Institute for Government, an independent think tank. 'Every grade except [the lowest] administrative grade grew last year.' While pay at each rank of the service has fallen significantly in real terms, the overall pay bill is now higher than it was in 2010 as staff become more senior. After coalition-era cuts, the civil service fell to a low of 418,340 in 2016 before beginning to rise again as government took on more responsibility as a result of Brexit. The Conservatives made a series of pledges to cut the civil service after the Covid pandemic but it has continued to grow every year. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has promised to cut costs by 15 per cent, although she has not set a target on staff numbers. Thomas said it was too soon to know if that pledge was working, but said a fall in the number of staff moving between departments suggested the civil service was 'gumming up'. 'Less churn is a good thing but it's not clear whether people are staying in their jobs to become more expert — more likely it's a response to recruitment freezes,' he said. The figures do show, however, that the civil service is becoming more diverse. Women now make up 49 per cent of the senior civil service. A record 18 per cent of civil servants are from ethnic minorities, up from 11 per cent a decade ago, while the proportion of disabled staff has doubled to 18 per cent. Alex Burghart, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, said the rise in numbers was 'the direct result of Labour's failure to act. We set out plans to reduce the size of the civil service to pre-pandemic levels, plans which would have saved £1 billion a year, but Labour scrapped these after taking office and since then have only worsened the problem with their continual surrender to the unions, and their creation of 41 new quangos.' A government spokesman said: 'These increases are driven by operational frontline roles. We have set out plans to reduce back office costs by 15 per cent over the next five years, delivering savings of over £2 billion a year by 2030 and targeting spending on frontline services. 'We have already announced a new cross-government fund for exit schemes to reduce staffing numbers over the next two years, as well as introducing measures to make it quicker and easier to remove poor performers from post.'