Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, visited Ibstock brick factory on Monday 3rd August.
Gavin was given a tour of the business’ Cannock facility and heard about the latest developments within the ceramic industry. Gavin was previously on the board of the British Ceramic Confederation and was also heavily involved in the sector until he was elected to represent South Staffordshire in 2010.
Ibstock Brick is now the UK’s biggest brickmaker. It has 20 factories nationwide and supplies a range of over 500 different bricks and rainscreen cladding systems.
The company operates 24 brick and paver plants with a total annual capacity in excess of 900 million bricks. Furthermore, it employs a total of 1960 people across the UK and has the backing of one of the world’s largest building materials companies.
The British Ceramic Confederation represents the collective interests of all sectors of the UK ceramics manufacturing industry. Their aim is to safeguard the industry's prosperity, acting on its behalf in discussions and negotiations with government and public authorities.
On the visit, Gavin said: “I really enjoyed visiting the Ibstock factory. The company is a huge UK success story and a great example of what our businesses can achieve with the right support. I was really interested to learn about the recent progress in the industry.
“It was fantastic to see that Ibstock have hired 3 apprentices and it is great to see what the company is doing to help young people wanting to enter the industry. It is with schemes such as this our skills gap is narrowing and our manufacture base growing. The apprentices that I met at Ibstock are great ambassadors for the company and I wish them luck for the future.”