THE deputy leader of Worcester City Council has defended an attempt to create more apprenticeships in Worcester – by saying more and more youngsters are benefiting.

New figures show that the authority’s flagship Apprenticeship Bursary programme has led to nine people finding work. There are also 16 applications currently being processed, meaning council chiefs are closing in on their original target of at least 25.

As your Worcester News reported last month, the scheme was criticised after bosses admitted only six youngsters had found work through the £30,000 project launched in September. The programme allows employers to apply for £1,000 of taxpayers’ money towards the costs of hiring an apprentice. Councillor Marc Bayliss, deputy leader of the city council, said: “There were a number of explanations why the take-up of the scheme was slow at the start.

“We could have taken the easy option, but we didn’t want to fund apprenticeships at big companies which didn’t need the money.

“It was aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises which had never taken on an apprentice before.

“It’s great news the figures have gone up and when all the money is spent, I’ll be working with officers to decide what we do next.”

He said that at the time of the scheme starting up, the Government launched its own apprenticeship bursaries, offering £1,500 to employers.

This led to some firms being confused as to which pot to apply to, or whether they could ask for help from both.

Coun Bayliss said companies were able to make bids to both pots to fund one apprenticeship. His comments were prompted by the Labour group asking why progress had been slow.

Councillor Joy Squires said your Worcester News 100 in 100 campaign, which encouraged firms to take on 100 apprentices in 100 days, was a good example of how it should be done. Our last 100 in 100 campaign led to 145 companies providing 214 youngsters with placements.