The PM made the announcement on a visit to Rolls Royce in Derby with Skills Secretary John Denham and Education Secretary Ed Balls. The new investment will take the total number of Government-funded apprenticeships to more than a quarter of a million.

Government invests in apprenticeships

The PM made the announcement as he prepared to visit Rolls Royce in Derby with Skills Secretary John Denham and Education Secretary Ed Balls. The new investment will take the total number of Government-funded apprenticeships to more than a quarter of a million.

Mr Brown discussed Rolls Royce’s apprenticeship scheme - around 170 have been signed up for 2009 - with Chief Operating Officer Mike Terret and chatted to apprentices about their experiences. Other major employers backing the apprenticeship strategy include Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Superdrug and Phones4U.

Speaking to journalists on the way to Derby, the PM said the Government was doing all it can to help people through the global crisis hitting Britain. 

He said:

“Today we want to assure people that apprenticeships will be available, in fact we will have 35,000 more apprenticeships throughout the country over the next year. So we continue to train for the future, but what I want to do is to listen and to learn and to act on what people are saying.

“So I’m talking to businesses, I’m talking to families, I’m talking to people who are worried about their mortgages, I’m talking to a range of community organisations in the places I’m visiting…I want to hear what people have to say, to explain what we are doing and to explain what we are going to do next.”

Mr Brown is on a regional tour to visit families, workers, business and community leaders around the country and discuss ways of improving the economy through long-term sustainable investment. The centrepiece of the tour will be a full Cabinet meeting and public engagement event in Liverpool on Thursday.

Read the apprenticeships press release on the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills website (new window).

We will keep you updated with all of the developments and announcements during the three-day trip.

Speaking to journalists in 10 Downing Street, Mr Brown said he was hopeful that the basis for a ceasefire, providing assurances to Israel over security and securing an open border under international supervision for Palestinians in Gaza, could be found.

The PM on Gaza…

The Prime Minister has called the situation in Gaza a “humanitarian crisis” and called for the international community to help build the framework for an “immediate and sustainable ceasefire”.

Speaking to journalists in 10 Downing Street, Mr Brown said he was hopeful that the basis for a ceasefire, providing assurances to Israel over security and securing an open border under international supervision for Palestinians in Gaza, could be found.

The PM said the ongoing hostilities marked the “darkest moment” for the Middle East and had to be tackled through international engagement. In addition to his own talks with Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey, the Foreign Secretary David Miliband was in discussions at the UN in New York and US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was liaising with Arab leaders over the crisis, he said.

The Prime Minister said the agreement on a ceasefire would require action over the construction of tunnels and arms trafficking into Gaza as well as an end to Israeli military action and rocket attacks by Hamas militants.