A BRIGHOUSE-based company hosted an event to promote apprenticeships.

Calder Valley MP Craig Whittaker and the Mayor and Mayoress of Calderdale, Clr John Hardy and his wife, Janet, were among guests at the open day hosted by electrical design and installation company Projex Solutions.

The event, held at the firm’s Thornhill Beck Lane site, opened with a debate surrounding the scope and capacity of apprenticeships and how they help Yorkshire businesses grow.

Projex Solutions managing director Jamie Ashton started his working life as an apprentice and credits this as the foundation of his successful career. Projex Solutions now has its own apprentice, Lewis Copeland, who has been given the chance to increase his skill levels.

Mr Whittaker said: “Apprenticeships are a great way to try and rebalance the economy. They are a huge asset to business and the individual – providing a huge skill set to feed business needs.”

Mr Ashton said that the recession and the increase in university tuition fees meant apprenticeships were becoming more popular. Businesses were seeing the benefits of having apprenticeships and school leavers were seeing the benefits in doing them.

Said Mr Ashton: “The day was a great success. Mr Whittaker attending was an honour and receiving a visit and speech from the mayor was an exceptional bonus.

“I completed my apprenticeship 18 years ago and since then the decline in companies running an apprenticeship programme has led to a reduced skill set being available for the industries we work within. We now have an apprentice of our own, he has been a credit to himself and the company on the projects in which he has been involved.”