Meeting positive young people working as apprentices

On Tuesday morning I met the chief executive of the Professional Body for Accounting Technicians to discuss their apprenticeship scheme. It was a really positive meeting and it was great to hear about apprentices combining on the job training with work towards their accounting qualification. I then travelled to the huge NEXT store in Oxford Street, not for shopping, but to meet their fantastic apprentices who told me all about their learning at NEXT, their job roles and career aspirations.

It was then back to Parliament to attend an EDF Energy MP drop-in session, I thought this was really useful in learning more about EDF’s work in the UK. It was there I was told about The Big EDF Energy Experiment, a national programme aiming to work with thousands of schools across the country to encourage hands-on scientific research. It sounds very exciting and I hope for it to be rolled out in Burnley schools.

On Wednesday I attended Prime Minister’s Questions which was the followed by a meeting with the Horticultural Traders Association to discuss the issue of Sunday trading.

After returning to Burnley on Wednesday evening, Thursday started with my regular update meeting with the manager of Burnley Jobcentre. We discussed issues raised by constituents and I am pleased we managed to resolve them all. In the afternoon I visited Time Technology Park with Ejaz Hussain, managing director of Burnley Telematics. We visited the Hourglass Café and BHP UK, an engine tuning and vehicle ECU re-mapping business, to meet their apprentices who are employed in a range of positions. It was great to meet such positive young people.

Friday was busy as usual; my first meeting was at Wellfield Church School, they are working hard to try to restore their all-weather pitch. The afternoon was filled with constituent appointments; I then held my regular surgery at ASDA Cafe, followed by a reception providing members of the finance sector an opportunity to discuss business. On Saturday morning I was in the town centre as usual holding my street stall.

This week I would like to send my congratulations to Burnley College who have recently won the gold award at the Training Provider Awards 2014. .