Three young people are set to battle it out to claim the Apprentice of the Year title at the Chesterfield Food and Drink Awards next month.

Celebrity chef Lesley Waters will announce the winner of the prestigious title at a glittering awards ceremony being held at Chesterfield College on Wednesday 31 October.

Ben Forster from Ringwood Hall Hotel & Spa, Corey Elliott from The Lilypad Café & Restaurant and Courtney Slater from Katey’s Coffee Shop at Hollingwood Hub are all in the running for the award which is sponsored by Apprentice Town (Led by Chesterfield Borough Council).

The finalists will be recognised alongside more than 30 businesses from the town’s food and drink sector which have been shortlisted across 15 categories in the annual Food and Drink Awards, organised by Destination Chesterfield.

All shortlisted apprentices were nominated for the award by their employers.

Commenting on being shortlisted, Ben Forster (19), a Level 3 apprentice in Professional Cookery at Ringwood Hall Hotel & Spa, said: “Everyone at work is really happy for me. It’s really good to have been chosen to be one of the finalists and recognised at work for how I’m progressing. I love the buzz and energy of working here. It’s amazing. I could never do anything else.”

Ben, who has ambitions to own his open seafood restaurant or bakery decided to do a professional cookery apprenticeship after undertaking work experience at Ringwood Hall Hotel & Spa when he was at The Bolsover School.

Fellow Level 3 Professional Cookery apprentice, Corey Elliott (17) has been with The Lilypad Café & Restaurant since he was 15 years old and worked part time in the kitchen washing dishes. He is now a valued member of the food preparation team. Corey enjoys cooking in his own time, often cooks for his parents at home.

He commented: “I love the atmosphere at The Lilypad Café & Restaurant and get on with my team really well. Cooking is my passion, it’s what I like to do in my own time, so it’s nice to be recognised for the hard work I put in here.”

Courtney Slater (20) from Katey’s Coffee Shop has completed her Level 2 apprenticeship in Hospitality and Catering and is now a manager. She commented: “Every day is different when you work at Katey’s Coffee Shop; it doesn’t even feel like being at work. I love the team I work with and really enjoy my role here. I’m looking forward to the awards ceremony.”

Courtney, who loves watching The Great British Bake Off, has even developed new products for the shop and has ambitions to be a pastry chef at a top restaurant.

Ben, Courtney and Katey all hope to claim the ‘Apprentice of the Year’ title

Alongside Ben, Corey and Courtney, three businesses have also been shortlisted for the Apprentice Employer of the Year title, sponsored by Learning Unlimited (The Chesterfield College Group). The shortlisted businesses include:

• The Rectory
• Stephenson’s Tea & Coffee House
• Van Dyk

Both the Apprentice of the Year and Apprentice Employer of the Year awards are new to the Chesterfield Food and Drink Awards line up for 2018. The new awards are designed to recognise and commend the valuable contribution both apprentices and their employers make to Chesterfield’s food and drink scene.

Peter Swallow, Chair of Destination Chesterfield said: “Apprentices play a vital role in the town’s food and drink sector and we’re delighted to be able to recognise the young talent we have here in Chesterfield, as well as the employers that are supporting them through their apprenticeships.”

Other supporters of the awards include Banner Jones Solicitors, BHP Accountants, Casa Hotel, Chesterfield Borough Council, Derbyshire Times, Derbyshire Building Control Partnership, Elder Way by Jomast Developments, East Midlands Chamber (Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire), FEAST (The Food and Drink Forum), Hoods Florist, Jumble Creative Design, Kier Group, MSE Hiller, Owen Taylor & Sons, Peak FM, Reflections, Shorts Chartered Accountants and Winster Foods.

For more information about the Food and Drink awards, please visit https://www.chesterfield.co.uk/foodanddrinkawards/.

Winners of the Chesterfield Food & Drink Awards 2017 celebrate

The RISE initiative is looking for more local companies to take advantage of its free graduate recruitment programme.

RISE helps connect the region’s network of innovative and exciting businesses to graduates with energy, enthusiasm and fresh ideas. It aims to help SMEs based in Chesterfield, Bolsover, North East Derbyshire and the Derbyshire Dales to find the best graduate talent for their business.

As part of the service RISE will write or assist with the advert, advertise a graduate role across the UK and put candidates through a variety of recruitment tasks. Companies also have access to line manager training, interview guidance and tool kits.

To date, the RISE initiative has helped over 300 businesses to fill over 400 graduate vacancies, from Manufacturing to Marketing. A recent survey of RISE businesses showed that businesses benefit in many ways by taking on a graduate and believe that hiring a graduate helped their business grow.

“RISE worked really well for us. We wouldn’t have had the resources to interview the number of initial applicants ourselves.” Riverside Automation

A spokesperson from Sheffield Sustainable Kitchens said: “The RISE scheme was a breath of fresh air and I learnt a lot about recruitment. All the information was there if we needed it, but wasn’t forced on us if we didn’t.”

Local organisations that have been involved in the project to date include Chesterfield Champions Casa Hotel, Global Brands, Roaring Mouse, MSE Hiller, and BHP Chartered Accountants.

There is no cost to use RISE except the graduate’s salary and employers NI. Plus, businesses signing up to the scheme for the first time will receive a £1000 subsidy.

The deadline to sign up to the scheme is 25th September so get in touch with Gabi Binnie (gabi@gradconsult.co.uk) to discuss advertising a vacancy.

Derbyshire County Council organise the free Derbyshire Skills Festival event with Derby City Council and it’s aimed at students aged 13 to 19, particularly those in year 11 who are considering their options after school. The event is the county’s largest careers event.

This year it’s coming to the Proact Stadium in Chesterfield on Wednesday 26 September 2018. There will also be two dates at Pride Park in Derby.

More than 50 employers, colleges, training providers and voluntary organisations will be at the events, offering the support and guidance needed to help make future career choices – all under 1 roof. There’ll be ‘have-a-go’ activities for young people to test their skills and get first-hand experience of engineering, media, hair and beauty and much more.

Councillor Alex Dale, Cabinet Member for Young People at Derbyshire County Council said:

“We’re really excited for this year’s Derbyshire Skills Festival.”

“It’s a fantastic opportunity for young people to come along and find out about lots of different careers and take part in some fun activities too.”

“If you know someone aged 13 to 19 please encourage them to pop along – last year more than 10,000 people attended over 3 great days.”

There’ll also be sessions for young people with special educational needs and disabilities and young people who are not in education, employment or training.

Find out more about this year’s Derbyshire Skills Festival.

Councillor Angelique Foster, Cabinet Member for Council Services at Derbyshire County Council, welcomed 23 young people who are doing apprenticeships in customer services, ICT, electrical, pipe fitting, civil engineering and transport planning.

During September and October 2018 more than 80 young people will start their apprenticeships with the Derbyshire County Council.

Councillor Foster said: “Creating opportunities for young people is a key aim for the council and I’m delighted that I was able to meet with some of our new starters.

“These apprentices will join 140 who started with the council since May 2017.

“Apprenticeships are a great way for a young person to get a start on the career ladder and I’m delighted that we have been able to create so many opportunities.”

In 2017, Chesterfield was the first town in the UK to declare itself an Apprentice Town, demonstrating its commitment to growing the future and careers of young people alongside business and the economy by retaining and developing young talent in the town in order to attract more employers to invest here.

Derbyshire County Council are involved in the initiative and sit on the Apprentice Town steering group, alongside Destination Chesterfield, Chesterfield College, University of Derby, East Midlands Chamber, Jobcentre Plus and Enterprise Adviser Network.

To find out more about apprenticeships in Chesterfield click here.

Applications are now open for Derbyshire County Council’s health and social care apprenticeships, with vacancies on offer at various locations across the county.

The role includes helping older and disabled people retain their independence and lead fulfilled and dignified lives within the council’s:

• residential care homes
• day centres
• specialist community care centres

Apprenticeships are available to people of any age and could be suitable for someone returning to work after having children, a young person over 16 looking to take up a rewarding career or someone who wants to change career.

Councillor Jean Wharmby, Cabinet Member for Adult Care said:

“Anyone looking for a new, rewarding challenge should definitely find out more about our health and social care apprenticeships.

“It’s a brilliant opportunity to get high-quality training and mentoring that will open up a number of different paths in both the social care and health sectors.

“You don’t have to be young to be an apprentice – as long as you’re over 16 and motivated to support people who need some extra help, we want to hear from you.”

The health and social care apprentices will be part of a valued team supporting people with everyday tasks such as washing, dressing, eating meals and staying socially active. After successfully completing the 15-month training programme, they will receive a Level 2 Diploma in Health and Social Care.

Derbyshire County Council offer career progression for their care staff and give free training and support for those looking to work up the career ladder. They offer extra pay for unsocial hours, 25 days paid holiday (pro-rata), a free uniform and no zero hours contracts. Working hours are flexible and previous experience isn’t necessary, although understanding the needs of older people – including those with dementia – is an important part of the work.

The application deadline is Sunday, 2 September 2018.

To view apprenticeship vacancies in Chesterfield click here.

The Government has announced that large employers can now share their Apprenticeship Levy funds among multiple companies in their supply chains.

Previously they could nominate only one company to receive help from the levy, a 0.5% tax payable by firms with payroll of over £3m a year. Nominated firms could receive up to ten per cent of the levy value.

Introduced in May 2017, the levy was intended to increase the number of apprenticeship starts to three million by 2020 but has led, instead, to a decline.

Ian Bates, Sector Forums Manager at East Midlands Chamber, who’s role includes working with employers and academia and running the Chamber’s annual Skills and Employability Summit, said:-

“We welcome this improved flexibility, it will go some way to widen opportunities for improving the availability of skilled workers, however more wide scale transformation is needed to make the system fit for purpose

“The levy didn’t achieve what the Government intended. Our own research has shown that most large employers did not expect to recover what they were paying out under the levy and many smaller employers don’t fully understand it or won’t use it at all.

“Allowing large employers to share the levy among multiple companies in their supply chain will, hopefully, result in those smaller companies being able to upskill their workers and to recruit new apprentices, thereby securing skilled workers for the future.”

“We have recently seen the British Chambers of Commerce, in partnership with the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), publish a ten-point-plan, to reform the Apprenticeship Levy system, which clearly sets out the asks for Government and for business.”

Since the levy was introduced, Government has twice previously shown flexibility in how it can be used, by allowing levy-payers to include a single supplier and allowing the fund to pay for upskilling existing workers.

The latest adjustment allows the levy-paying firm to nominate any number of suppliers to receive the ten per cent benefit.

Chesterfield is the first town in the UK to declare itself an Apprentice Town – demonstrating its commitment to growing the future and careers of young people alongside business and the economy by retaining and developing young talent in the town in order to attract more employers to invest here.

Find out more about hiring an apprentice and the Apprentice Levy here.