FENLAND District Council played host to the deputy chief executive of Ufi - the company behind Learndirect - as he went back to his roots by spending the day acting as a management apprentice.

Pablo Lloyd joined two advanced management apprentices at the council to find out more about what the day-to-day life of an apprentice involves.

His visit followed National Apprenticeship Week and marked the beginning of a pilot by Ufi to launch apprenticeships through seven training companies across the country, including F1 Training in Cambridgeshire.

Mr Lloyd said: “This was a fantastic opportunity to see first-hand the vital workplace skills these apprentices are gaining on a daily basis.”

Mr Lloyd’s first assignment was helping out in the council’s one stop shop in March alongside shop manager and management apprentice Sue Savage.

Ms Savage said: “I feel very positive about starting my apprenticeship. The council has constantly encouraged me to take on further training.

“I have already achieved an NVQ and the apprenticeship opportunity allows me to follow on from the things I learnt in this to continue my career progression.”

From there, it was back to Fenland Hall where 3C’s co-ordinator Avison Warren was on hand to show Mr Lloyd how the council monitors compliments, comments and complaints.

Mr Lloyd also met Shari Khan, the council’s change and development manager, as well as chief executive Sandra Claxton.

Ms Khan said: “We are totally committed to learning and development and helping people to gain the necessary qualifications because we know it delivers frontline benefits.

“Through gaining an apprenticeship it provides our staff with more opportunities for enhanced career development and we’ve seen increased motivation as a result.”

Glenn Forbes, outreach business manager at F1 Training, said: “Employees at the council have already achieved over 400 qualifications through Learndirect with many becoming more motivated to progress onto higher level qualifications.

“The council and F1 Training are now working together on the next stage of their development programme with the implementation of apprenticeships and advanced apprenticeships to their workforce and see this as a pivotal tool for their continual development programme.”