Business investment in young people is vital for growth says IT entrepreneur

"There are skills shortages in the IT sector that government organised apprenticeship schemes are simply not capable of addressing," said Scott Fletcher, the chairman and founder of UK cloud infrastructure specialists ANS Group.

"The quality of training was simply not where we needed it to be," he said.

ANS have recently become part of the 'Employer Ownership of Skill Pilot' and will train 32 'cloud apprentices' over the next two years.

Participants will receive classroom training and on the job training from ANS employees rather than at local colleges.

"There is no way that a local college can keep pace with the speed of change in IT and by the time they have developed a course it is generally out of date. More involvement from employers in developing apprenticeships is what is needed," said Mr Fletcher.

"The IT industry is obviously fluid and businesses need to re-invent themselves every few years. There is no sitting back on past glories in our industry and young talent is the essential fuel for that re-invention," he said.

Mr Fletcher said that there were plans for the ANS apprenticeship academy to expand and that in the future other IT employers could sponsor apprenticeships for candidates who would then go on to work for them.

"We have found that apprentices display a greater loyalty to the companies which have trained them and are less likely than graduates to move on and work for your business rivals," said Mr Fletcher.