Irene Hays

"“The reason why I am so passionate about apprentices and apprenticeships is that they have added the goods all the way through my career."

"I feel this really isnt an award just for me, its for all the people who have created the right environment for all those people to succeed and the apprentices and the young people themselves."

"I think that people pay too much attention to getting academic qualifications - not everyone can get them. There is a place in that whole system for well run apprenticeship schemes."

"“I think I was seen as someone who got things done, a problem solver, but from my point of view that always involved getting the right people around the table.”"

"“The people currently running the council are not interested in empty rhetoric, they just want to get things done.”"