Employment Minister Chris Grayling, MP for Epsom and Ewell:

"Apprenticeships are one of the best ways to help an unemployed young person get a job, and start to build skills that can last an entire career.

"They can also be a really good deal for an employer.

"I hope businesses of all sizes and types across the Guardian area will come forward to make this really important campaign a success."

Business Secretary Vince Cable, MP for Twickenham:

"I've been pushing this very aggressively at a national level so it fits in with my agenda.

"We will have about 250,000 more apprenticeships in the next few years. We are encouraging businesses to do apprenticeships because I think people increasingly value them.

"People used to be snobbish about vocational training, but I think there's now recognition that there’s often very good careers particularly with things like engineering apprenticeships."