Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Apprentice 100: Poll reveals positive impact of Modern Apprenticeships

Apprentice 100: Poll reveals positive impact of Modern Apprenticeships

A new poll has revealed most firms who offer Modern Apprenticeships (MAs) believe young people have had a positive impact on their business.

Nine out of 10 employers said Scottish-Government-backed MAs would form part of their strategy in the coming years, according to the survey by Skills Development Scotland (SDS).

SDS distributes government funding for the more than 80 different types of MA on offer and is a supporter of the Press and Journal’s Apprentice 100 campaign.

About three-quarters of employers who took part in the poll said MAs improved productivity, staff morale and the quality of service they offered.

More than 80% were satisfied with the relevance and quality of training their apprentices received.

About 2,500 businesses took part in the Modern Apprenticeship Employer Survey 2015, which was carried out earlier this year by independent researcher IFF.

The majority of respondents were businesses with fewer than 99 employees.

A quarter of MAs in Scotland came from the wholesale retail or motor trades, while construction accounted for 15%. Hotels and restaurants were the next biggest MA employers on 14%.

Employers were less satisfied with the opportunities available to influence decisions about the content of MA programmes. A fifth of employers were dissatisfied, while 49% were satisfied only.

Just over a third of employers said they had experienced at least one dropout at some point in time.

A fifth attributed the failure to personal reasons and 34% said the apprentice had a poor attitude.

Two-thirds of employers felt there was nothing they could have done to get the apprentice over the line.

Katie Hutton, an SDS deputy director, said: “The survey results are very encouraging and demonstrate the importance employers place in MAs to develop the skills of their workforce.

“Employers continue to invest in MAs, despite the economic challenges of recent years, and continue to see the benefits they bring to their business.”

Cabinet Secretary for Fair Work, Skills and Training Roseanna Cunningham said the survey provided further evidence of the value MAs could bring to individual businesses and the wider economy.

Ms Cunningham added: “We are now delivering more than 25,000 MAs each year and will increase the numbers to 30,000 by 2020 and I hope that anyone considering taking on an MA will note these figures that speak volumes about our talented and enthusiastic young workforce.”

There are about 35,000 apprentices in training in Scotland right now, with more than 15,000 different employers and companies.

Last year, 40% of MAs were undertaken by females.