THEY certainly chose an interesting day for it, for when a group of Worcestershire apprentices visited Westminster, it turned out to be the very day Chancellor George Osborne was presenting his Budget speech.

The trip was arranged by Worcestershire Training Providers Association, which is commissioned by Worcestershire LEP to deliver the Worcestershire Apprenticeship Hub and Clearing House, and the apprentices were met by two of the county's MPs, Robin Walker and Nigel Huddleston.

Mr Walker, the MP for Worcester, said: "I was delighted that a group of apprentices from Worcestershire were able to visit Parliament. As a member of the All Party Parliamentary group for Apprenticeships, a Parliamentary Apprenticeship ambassador and having served on the BIS Select Committee, which oversees policy towards apprenticeships, I have always been passionate about promoting apprenticeships and all the opportunity they can offer. I am passionate about the Government’s plan to deliver more than million apprenticeships by 2020 and I want to see Worcestershire play a major part in that. We have already seen the numbers double and the quality increase over the last five years but I will keep on pressing the case for more apprenticeship opportunities so that more bright young people can earn and learn at the same time. It is always a pleasure to welcome constituents to Westminster but it was doubly exciting when those constituents were also apprentices.”