RAF signs up for Asian Apprenticeship Awards

THE RAF has signed on as a supporter and sponsor of the Asian Apprenticeship Awards.

It follows from a visit by the awards team that was invited to RAF Cosford in Staffordshire to see apprentice training.

The RAF will sponsor the Charity, Voluntary Organisations and Public Services Category.

In its second year, the Asian Apprenticeship Awards encourages more young British Asians to consider taking up apprenticeship training. British Asians are under-represented when it comes to apprenticeships.

RAF Cosford, near Wolverhampton, is the national centre where the Royal Air Force trains its engineering apprentices that are amongst the best in the country.

The Royal Air Force is a leading trainer of apprentices and has a 99 per cent pass rate compared with the national average of 65 per cent.

There are 33,000 men and women serving in the RAF of which some 2,500 will be undergoing apprenticeship training in more than 20 different disciplines.

RAF Cosford also provides training for engineers from other countries including the United States.

But the services faces a challenge in that three per cent of its servicemen and women are from Minority Ethnic backgrounds and it is keen to increase this to 10 per cent by the year 2020.

There service also wants to increase the number of women from the current level of 14 per cent.

“We are delighted to have the RAF which is synonymous with the very best in apprentice training on board,” said Safaraz Ali, of the Pathway Group who founded the Asian Apprenticeship Awards.

The gala evening is on Thursday, November 2 at Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham and nominations are open. For more information click here.