Local MP, Jo Churchill, has welcomed Greene King apprentice, Tyler Markarian, to Parliament to celebrate the launch of a new report and set of social mobility commitments by Britain’s leading pub company and brewer, Greene King.
At a reception supported by the Education Secretary, Tyler – who works as a Chef at The Dog & Partridge - spoke with Jo Churchill MP about his experience of the Greene King apprenticeship programme. Tyler joined Greene King following a difficult period in his life, but he was determined to turn things around and is now working hard to achieve his Level 2 apprenticeship with Greene King.
Greene King launched The Stepping Up Report as part of efforts to challenge the barriers of social mobility and to create opportunities in the hospitality sector for all individuals from all backgrounds.
It comes as the prominence of social mobility as an issue continues to rise in the UK. The 2018 Social Mobility Barometer, a survey of 5,000 people carried out by The Social Mobility Commission, showed that 40% of respondents think it is getting harder for people from less advantaged backgrounds to move up in British society, almost twice as many as those who think it is becoming easier. Nearly half of respondents believed that where you end up in society is heavily influenced by who your parents are.
Jo Churchill MP said: “It was great to meet Tyler and to hear about the difference that Greene King’s apprenticeship programme has made to his life. Local employers play a crucial role in supporting social mobility in Bury St Edmunds.
Greene King also sponsors the culinary arts programme at West Suffolk College. Links such as this between education institutions and employers ensure that we can build the highly skilled workforce our country needs.
I welcome the important steps that Greene King has announced in The Stepping Up Report. When it comes to social mobility Greene King is showing real leadership. For social mobility to succeed we will need more businesses to follow Greene King’s example, a point I have made to colleagues in government.”
Tyler said: “It was a big event and I hadn’t been to anything like it before. It was really good to meet Jo and it was really interesting and inspiring to talk to her about my apprenticeship. People from my background don’t often get the opportunity like that and I’m grateful to have had the chance to go and have these conversations.
I’m studying for my level 2 chef qualification alongside working at the Dog & Partridge. Everyone here is really supportive and they’ve taught me a lot as well. It’s been helpful for me and it’s an interesting course where I’ve learned a lot.”
