Apprenticeships are on the rise. For the first time, a whole new generation are seeing Apprenticeships as the route to a brighter future.

The number of employers offering Apprenticeships has risen every year of this Parliament, and the number of small employers involved is at record levels. Indeed, in Yorkshire and The Humber, the number of workplaces employing an apprentice increased by 80 per cent between the 2009/10 and 2012/13 academic years.

However, we want to encourage even more businesses to make an apprentice part of their growth strategy.

My colleague, Kris Hopkins MP for Keighley and Ilkley, recently brought to my attention a report that found that some small and medium sized businesses in Yorkshire are being prevented from taking on an apprentice due to concerns over red tape, cost and the quality of candidates. Businesses of all sizes, in any sector can benefit from taking on an apprentice and I am committed to helping them see how.

I want Apprenticeships to become the first choice for businesses and employers of all kinds to train their next generation of skilled staff.

We are reforming our Apprenticeships system, to make it truly world-leading and to put apprentices at the very forefront of economic growth in the years to come. By raising standards, ensuring Apprenticeships are rigorous and demanding, we prove their worth to employers and to potential apprentices.

In the past, Apprenticeships have not closely enough reflected the specific needs of employers. That’s why we’re putting employers in the driving seat.

We now have more than 400 employers across 37 sectors helping to design new Apprenticeships. This ensures that learners are equipped with the skills businesses need and that employers are able to address skills shortages within their workforce.

All too often businesses fall in to the trap of seeing apprentices as a cost as opposed to an investment. However, apprentices can in fact drive business growth, with the average qualified apprentice boosting productivity by £214 per week. There is also government funding specifically designed to help smaller businesses with the costs associated with taking on an apprentice.

We're committed to slashing red tape and simplifying Apprenticeship standards through replacing the existing complex frameworks with short, simple, accessible standards written by employers in a language they understand and reforming the funding system to put this into the hands of employers.

It is becoming the new norm for talented and ambitious young people to leave school and go into an Apprenticeship or to university, or do both in the case of some Higher Apprenticeships. Top apprenticeships are more competitive than undergraduate places in the best universities and last year alone, apprenticeship applications rose by almost 50 per cent .

With a talent pool of over a million potential employees it is the ideal time for companies to take advantage of the opportunities for business growth provided by employing apprentices.