IT was a big day out in London for two 17-years-old students at RGS Worcester when they attended the annual conference of the British Chambers of Commerce and met Dragons' Den star Theo Paphitis. The conference theme centred on young people and sixth formers Matt Emeny from Hartlebury and Georgie Sanders from Upton Snodsbury were invited to lunch with Mr Paphitis as part of the Business is Good for Young People campaign.

Mark Evetts, head of economics and business studies at RGS Worcester, said: "Developing young people, who are business minded and work ready, is key to the success of our economy. Attending this prestigious conference and meeting Theo Paphitis has given our students a brilliant opportunity to see leading figures debating the most important economic questions of our day."

Jim McBride, president of Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce, added: "The conference was an exceptional opportunity for us at the Chamber and in business, to hear first hand from government and business about the issues that affect all of us on a daily basis. It was particularly good to hear the positive call-to-action to increase the co-operation between the business community and education providers."

At the event at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Central London, the BCC director general John Longworth set out his vision for "great growth" and the need to transform the UK economy from being merely good to being truly great, by creating sustainable growth. "Preparing this next generation for the British workforce is too important to the economy for us to ignore," he added.