Apprenticeships available in St Albans have more than doubled in the last three years, according to new figures.

In a report released last week by the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) it shows that there have been twice as many apprenticeships created in St Albans in the last three years than the previous three.

From 2007 to 2010 the city Albans offered 630 apprenticeships compared to 1,410 between 2010 and 2013.

This growth has been primarily led by two sectors including Business, Administration and Law and Retail and Commercial Enterprise.

According to the report, apprenticeships have shown to be highly successful: 85 per cent of apprentices stay in employment after their apprenticeship ends and a third of all former apprentices get promoted within 12 months of their apprenticeship finishing.

The report shows evidence to suggest employers also benefit from apprenticeships: 81 per cent of employers taking part said that employing apprentices generated higher productively overall and 92 per cent said that their apprenticeship programme better motivated staff and increased job satisfaction.

On seeing the figures, St Albans MP Anne Main released the following statement.

She said: “This has been a fantastic couple of weeks for St Albans’ economy; business start ups over twice that of the UK as a whole, unemployment consistently downward and now apprenticeships more than doubling.

“These things are all interlinked and this good news is down to the entrepreneurial spirit of people in St Albans. People are starting businesses, growing their firm and taking on apprentices.

“I pay tribute to all those businesses in St Albans that take on even one apprentice; it makes sense for your business and it offers a career to a young person just starting out in the world of work.

“I would urge St Albans businesses to look into the apprenticeship scheme and I would encourage all schools to make their pupils aware of it”.