The Duke of York, who is a patron of the London Evening Standard’s Ladder for London Campaign, has previously pledged his support for more businesses to create apprenticeships in their area and met with regional editors last year to discuss how to promote the campaign.
The move follows the success of the Ladder for London campaign by the Standard which has created more than 1,300 apprenticeships for young people since its introduction in September 2012.
The Duke has been vocal in his support for vocational training claiming that more opportunities are in need of being opened up across the country to provide jobs that the workplace requires.
He will be joined by apprentices from the Evening Standard and Joanne Butcher, the Chief Executive of the National Council for the Training of Journalists, in a bid to continue to persuade more regional editors to campaign for more businesses to start up their own schemes.
Bob Satchwell, Executive Director of the Society of Editors said: “After the success of the Evening Standard’s campaign, similar apprenticeship schemes are now running in Leeds, Kent, Darlington, Cambridge, Northern Ireland and Swindon.
“We look forward to hearing The Duke of York’s thoughts on how the local and regional newspaper industry can help to create trainee positions for youngsters and to help the unemployed into work.”
The one-day seminar will take place at the Forest of Arden Hotel in the West Midlands on Monday 7 April 2014. Attendance at the event is priced at £55 +VAT for a day delegate and £165 +VAT for overnight accommodation on Sunday, dinner and Monday attendance at the seminar.
Other speakers will include Tony Jaffa from Foot Anstey, Doug Wills, Managing Editor of the Independent titles, Alison Gow, head of Trinity Mirror's new digital and content innovation team and Steve Dyson, who is the guest speaker for the Sunday evening dinner on April 6 which will precede the conference. They will be joined by the Liverpool Echo editor Alastair Machray, Jenny Eastwood from Gloucester, Jeremy Clifford of Yorkshire Post Newspapers, Ian Murray, editor of the Southern Daily Echo, Neil Benson of Trinity Mirror and Mark Waldron from Portsmouth.
