Cornwall Council is offering 20 new apprenticeship opportunities across the Council this year and is holding a special open day at County Hall between 1pm and 4pm on Monday, July 25 to highlight the placements on offer.

The council has joined forces with its recruitment team, local learning providers including Truro and Penwith College, Cornwall College and Adult Education, and the National Careers Service to make sure there’s plenty of expert advice and guidance available to help people apply for the right apprenticeship.

The Government wants to encourage more companies and organisations to take on apprentices and is changing the funding and delivery of  apprenticeships from April 2017 to meet a national target of three million apprenticeships by 2020.

Cornwall will be contributing around £1.1 million to an apprenticeship levy and will have a target set by the Government to increase the number of apprenticeships recruited.

As a result the council is looking to increase its current number of apprenticeships to 50 by March 2017.

Latest data shows that in 2014-15 there were 5,247 new apprenticeships started in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, which was a 15% increase on the previous 12 months. 

There are currently 17 apprentices working across the council in a wide range of services, including  fire, safeguarding, human resources, finance and planning and enterprise

The new placements, which will begin in September, include highways, sports partnership, children’s social care, digital marketing and human resources.