A top level delegation of Teesside business chiefs has been to London to plead the case for the extension of a hugely successful apprenticeship scheme.

Funding for the Tees Valley Apprenticeship Programme (TVAP) - responsible for creating and safeguarding almost 300 apprenticeships in the area in less than two years - finishes at the end of March.

TVAP, employer-led but managed through the National Skills Academy for the Process Industries (NSAPI) based in Darlington, cost just £1.8 million in total but led to 134 Tees Valley employers being persuaded to take on an apprentice.

That figure included not just recognised firms in the process industries, but also 80 from small and medium sized businesses, 43 of whom had never taken on an apprentice before.

Now, Skills Minister John Hayes has heard how - with a further injection of a similar amount of public money - the scheme has the potential to be extended to benefit the wider North East and be self sustaining in two years time.

TVAP Chairman George Ritchie, Senior Vice President for HR with Sembcorp Industries and chair of the north east regional ambassadors of the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) led the delegation to London.

The party included Stan Higgins, Chief Executive of NEPIC, Ian Mains, Business Development Director of NSAPI, Allan Wallace, Employer Services Director of NAS and Heather Smithson of NSAPI who is Project Director of TVAP.

They were supported at the meeting in the Minister's office in the Houses of Parliament by an all party delegation of local MPs. Hartlepool MP Iain Wright, a former junior minister for apprentices in the previous Government, led the Tees Valley MPs who included Redcar MP Ian Swales, Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Tom Blenkinsop and Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham. All recognise the phenomenal success of TVAP in the short time it has been in existence.

After the meeting Mr Hayes said: "I was delighted to meet the delegation led by my friend Iain Wright MP. The North East has seen record growth in apprenticeship numbers in the  past year and I listened carefully to the case made by MPs and local businessmen."

Mr Ritchie said: "The Minister was very gracious with his time and he and his team listened intently to what we had to say. He was clearly extremely impressed with the success of the scheme in an area where jobs creation is absolutely vital and we showed him how this fits the Government's agenda on apprenticeships perfectly.

"The thrust of our case was that there is a real opportunity to build on TVAP's success and firmly cement the idea into employers' minds that apprenticeships like this, which give young people fantastic skills, are producing people who have the ability to grow their businesses. Many of those on the TVAP scheme have now been taken on as full time employees by their sponsoring companies because they are bringing real value to those businesses. That message is particularly important for those employers who perhaps don't have access to the support resources that bigger businesses have or the same confidence to take on an apprentice.

"The smaller and medium sized firms who have engaged in this process have in fact become the best ambassadors for apprenticeships - particularly those who have never had an apprentice before - and we know they can be extremely influential over the next few years in persuading others throughout the wider region to display the same faith in our young people as we have in the Tees Valley.

The delegation was told it should hear within the next five weeks whether their bid for additional funding has been successful.