THE leader of Test Valley has supported national apprenticeship week as a series of apprentices visited schools across the valley to promote their schemes.

National Apprenticeship Week, which finished last weekend, encourages young people to choose that pathway to a career.

A government initiative, Test Valley apprentices had been working in local schools throughout February and March to deliver workshops to raise awareness of apprenticeships to pupils.

Leader of Test Valley Borough Council, Phil North, supported the project.

He said: “Apprenticeships provide on the job training and valuable work experience while studying for a recognised qualification.

“We believe apprentices are a vital part of our workforce enabling us to develop and grow our future council employees.

“Over the past 18 months, we’ve increased the number of apprentices we employ and have developed our apprenticeship programme further.”

The council has also announced that it will be recruiting for a number of departments between May and June. They include HR, environmental services and finance.