A RECORD number of people started apprenticeships in Basildon and Thurrock this year.

New statistics show 900 people started an apprenticeship in South Basildon and East Thurrock in the last financial year - an increase of 61 per cent.

Stephen Metcalfe, MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, welcomed the figures.
He said: “With the world around us changing, we will only succeed in the global race when everyone is given the chance to reach their full potential and apprenticeships are a vital means through which this can be achieved.

“Conservatives have dramatically increased the number of apprenticeships on offer compared to the last Labour Government. These record levels of apprenticeships are fantastic news for our country, for South Basildon and East Thurrock, and most of all for the people whose lives are being transformed by the opportunities they offer.”