Hundreds of youngsters eager to find work as apprentices poured into the Gloucestershire SkillsFest event.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling took time out to attend the gathering, at Gloucester Rugby Club, which was a highlight of National Apprenticeship Week.

Mr Grayling praised the county for leading the way in promoting apprenticeships – including The Citizen Apprenticeship Awards, in association with Clarkson Evans.

Some of the county's biggest employers, including GCHQ, Messier Dowty, Ultra Electronics, Moog and Renishaw manned stalls on three floors at the club building, with workshops and seminars throughout the day as more than 400 people packed in.

At a special Business Breakfast, The Citizen's Editor Ian Mean said: "Apprenticeships are now top of the employment agenda, and Gloucestershire is now the fastest growing region for creating these posts. In this county we have brilliant young people driving companies ahead."

He appealed to businesses to support the Apprenticeships Challenge campaign to create 100 new training posts, but questioned Mr Grayling on why schools were not doing more to encourage pupils into apprenticeships.

Terry Chappell, of the National Apprenticeship Service, which helped stage the event, said five years ago there had been 250,000 apprentice start-ups but last year it had risen to 457,000. In Gloucestershire the figure had grown from 1,600 to 4,150. Alex Simmonds, 17, from Cinderford, an award-winning apprentice at Staverton-based Messier Dowty MRO, said: "The impression some people get is that apprentices are a cheap form of labour but this just isn't true."

Mr Grayling said: "We need to find ways of getting young people into the work market for the first time – that's the challenge."