The very best in Asian apprentices will be celebrated at a gala event in November that will be the first of its kind. Apprentices from all over the country and their employers will get the chance to compete for 22 different awards. There is also an opportunity for businesses and organisations with an interest in training to become partners and a range of sponsorship options are available.

The success of a City of Wolverhampton College student who learnt his trade on a City of Wolverhampton Council housing project has highlighted the benefits of apprenticeships. Cameron Bridgen, from Wednesfield, was taken on by Kier Group as a Level 2 apprentice carpenter on its Thompson Avenue housing development in June 2014. Since then the 19-year-old has climbed the ladder and has recently secured a management position with Kier.

Initiative, passion and self-motivation are the qualities leading UK employers most value in employees aged 25 or under, according to new research by Uni’s not for me (UNFM), an information and advice resource for young people considering the alternatives to university. More than 50 organisations, including EY, Penguin Publishing, The Berkley Group, River Island Clothing, Pimlico Plumbers and Pret a Manger took part in the research.

New research from David Lloyd Clubs reveals that the average British parent starts to think about the sports they could enroll their children into before they even turn five years of age. And, what’s more surprising, 5% of parents confessed that they started making sporting plans for their little ones as soon as they hit six months.  This keenness to push children into sport isn’t just for fun - 43% of parents believe that partaking in sports at a young age could impact on how successful their children are in the future.

Wolverhampton’s education chief has issued a good luck message to students collecting their A-levels and other results this week. Thousands of students are due to find out what grades they have achieved at schools and colleges across the city today. Councillor Claire Darke, the City of Wolverhampton Council’s Cabinet Member for Education, said: “I'd like to wish everyone collecting their A-level results this week the very best of luck."

Millennials in the West Midlands (18-35s) are fast becoming a generation of regret, as nearly half (47%) who went to university regret doing so given the amount of debt they now have. This is ten percentage points higher than the average across all UK millennials (37%).   As they struggle to pay back tuition fees, meet daily living costs and save for the future, over half (53%) of millennials in the West Midlands who went to university believe they could have got to where they are now if they hadn’t gone, Aviva’s latest Family Finances Report reveals.