On Wednesday 13th May, apprentices past, present and future from Training for Life’s training restaurant, Hoxton Apprentice, prepared and served breakfast for the prime minister and senior cabinet ministers at No.10 Downing Street. The event marked the launch of a new government fund to create thousands of jobs for young people.  The Prime Minister held talks with social entrepreneurs and young apprentices as the Government launched a £1 billion Future Jobs Fund to create more jobs for young people.

Gordon Brown said creating jobs for the future was a top priority and he encouraged social enterprises to bid for money from the fund and use it to create at least 15,000 jobs.

Gordon Brown said: “For us it’s the number one priority that there are jobs for the future.”

He was joined by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell, who visited the Hoxton Apprentice on Tuesday to see the aspiring chefs at work.

Mr Purnell said: “We will not abandon a generation of Britain’s young people to the unemployment scrapheap. We want social enterprises to create at least 15,000 new jobs to help the next generation of social entrepreneurs get started. We want to give young people the chance to work and make a real difference, by funding new jobs in companies working to build a better Britain.”

Gordon D’Silva, Founder and Chief Executive of Training for Life added: “Social enterprise businesses like our Michelin recommended Hoxton Apprentice restaurant trains people, provides apprenticeships, creates jobs and generates profits that are reinvested in a business model that is not dependent on government subsidy to support its sustainability. I am therefore delighted that this new job creation initiative has all the potential of helping organisations like Training for Life to help create more jobs and more social businesses that are not only sustainable but also scalable”.

For further information contact:

Ben Anderson
Tel: 020 7749 2820
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