CECA members have been involved in the induction of fifteen young people to an M74 Modern Apprenticeship scheme.

Most of the apprentices are from the Glasgow and South Lanarkshire area. They began working on this project in 2008 as a result of the M74 Employability Partnership, and they will now be able to maximise the benefits of this work experience as they start out on the Interlink M74 JV-led Modern Apprenticeship scheme that allows them to become

"time-served" within two years.

The formal induction was attended by Scottish Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson MSP, who spoke at the event.

Commenting, CECA (Scotland) Chief Executive Alan Watt, said: "CECA (Scotland) has lobbied the Scottish government for many years to establish properly funded and recognised Level 2 SVQ apprenticeships in key civil engineering occupational categories where none of the traditional four-year construction apprenticeships were appropriate. Since 2007 Construction Skills and CECA have worked closely with other bodies like SBATC, SPOA and SQA to develop these Modern Apprenticeships in Formwork, General Construction Operations, Plant Operations and Road Maintenance which were launched in July.

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"It is heartertening to see the M74 Interlink team made up of Balfour Beatty, Morgan Est, Morrisons and Sir Robert McAlpine taking such a positive lead in promoting them and work is well underway with Scottish Water and Transport Scotland - including the Forth Replacement Crossing project team - about rolling these out more widely.

"Although launching new qualifications during a recession is not ideal, we hope that this Modern Apprenticeship scheme will allow hard pressed firms to recover sufficient Grant to be able to recruit, train and qualify new workers in key skills for the economic recovery."

Further commenting, CECA Director of Training Joe Johnson said: "This new Modern Apprenticeship is a very positive step, and shows that CECA members are committed to ensuring the industry has the future skills it needs by training apprentices."

(GK/KMcA)