Ed Miliband showed his support for the East London tech scene last week by visiting Hackney Community College to find out more about its Tech City apprenticeships.
These apprenticeships give students the opportunity for paid employment at Tech City firms in East London, such as Shoreditch-based design company Poke, while studying.
In a speech at Tech City, a cluster of technology firms in East London, Mr Miliband said: “IT apprenticeships have fallen from 18,520 to 13,750 in the last year alone, leaving businesses having to recruit workers from abroad.
“Nothing will determine Britain’s future more than the skills of our young people. Those skills are the route to higher-paying jobs and to providing business with the talent they need to compete in the world.”
Ian Ashman, Principal of Hackney Community College, said: “Through our Tech City Apprenticeships programme we are addressing the exact issues noted by the Labour Leader today.”
“I encourage more key players in the sector to find out about, and take advantage of our suite of specialist higher level programmes.”
