Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins opens GBS Apprenticeships' new office

Toby Perkins, MP for Chesterfield, and Diane Berresford, deputy chief executive of the East Midlands Chamber, open the new premises of GBS Apprenticeships

GBS Apprenticeships’ office at Markham House, Chesterfield was officially opened on Friday by Toby Perkins, the town’s MP and Shadow Minister for Education, and Diane Beresford, the deputy chief executive of East Midlands Chamber.

Steven Guard, chief executive officer of the parent company Guard Business Solution Ltd, said that the office had been open since the beginning of June after relocating from the Market Hall. He said: “We didn't have enough space where were and also to expand for the courses we wanted to run. We’ve now probably got four times more space than what we'd got previously. There are dedicated training rooms that we didn't have before. We put in new equipment to make it a bit more state of the art so it’s made a nice environment for learners and staff to come and work in.

"Most of what we've done over the last year has been remote learning. Our goal is to get back to face to face learning and we want to get to the point where we have 20+ learners a day coming in.”Steven said that business was picking up after companies had been nervous about recruitment over the past year due to the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic. “Confidence is returning and employers are a lot more optimistic in the market going forward. We’re picking up requests again to start new people on apprenticeships,” he said.

Guard Business Solutions has been trading since 2010 with the apprenticeships side starting in 2016-17. The company was based in the Market Hall for three years and prior to that operated from a bedroom in a house in Spital.

Steven’s wife Penny is managing director of GBS Apprenticeships, their daughter Coral is design manager and son Christopher is IT systems manager. The business has 18 employees in total.

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