SHADOW Chancellor Ed Balls believes a ‘flourishing’ Worcester manufacturer could hold the key to sustaining Britain’s economic recovery.
The Labour MP was speaking during a visit to Worcester Bosch last Thursday (March 13) where he was given a tour of its headquarters off Cotswold Way in Warndon.
Experts have recently predicted the country’s economy will exceed its pre-recession growth peak this summer and Mr Balls said Worcester Bosch’s manufacturing output was helping to fuel the recovery.
“We want to see the recovery gaining strength and we want to see new investment in our economy, so to come to Worcester and to see such a flourishing manufacturing plant with state-of-the-art technology has been great,” he said.
“They are employing more than a thousand workers and there are 60 apprentices here, so if you want a model of the kind of company which is going to succeed for Britain in the future Worcester Bosch is that company.”
He said he was delighted at the heating company’s focus on providing opportunities for young people and Coun Joy Squires, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for the city, added: “Worcester Bosch is certainly the model for apprenticeships, so seeing that roll out across the city would be fantastic and it is something I am determined to do.”
Carl Arntzen, managing director at Worcester Bosch, said they were keen to increase the amount of apprentices they take on.
“We have around 70 students on work placements as well, so developing young talent is a really important part of what we do as it makes sure we have got the skills for the business moving forward,” he said. “These people will be the senior managers of the future so we are expanding our training programmes right across all different disciplines.
“A couple of years ago we had about 35 or 40 apprentices, but now we have upped that to 60 and we will increase that next year and the year after that.”
