Apprentices Will Raise Our Game To Meet Tomorrow's Challenges
3 min read
The public and private sector need to harness the enthusiasm of our young people, along with others who take the brave step of examining their careers and deciding to make a change.
Attracting this talent will be of great benefit in tackling the shifting challenges of modern day employers, be that navigating the needs of customers or citizens. They bring curiosity, fresh perspectives and an openness to new challenges.
That’s why today we’re committing to one in twenty civil servants being an apprentice by 2025, with opportunities spread right across the UK.
We have already made good progress to reform the government, harnessing and sharing data better, weaving inclusivity into the fabric of the public sector.
But we also need to build a pipeline of talent to create the future leaders and experts who can tackle tomorrow’s challenges.
Our new Apprenticeship Strategy does just that, driving up standards through best-in-class training programmes and encouraging apprentices to take up secondments in the private sector, while also growing the government’s capabilities by linking apprenticeship placements to areas where we have a shortage of skills, particularly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
It will ensure the number of apprenticeship roles in every region reflects local Civil Service workforce numbers, mirroring our ongoing programme to move 22,000 roles out of London, to ensure those creating policy have a stake in every part of the country.
And we will also make sure that everyone, no matter their background, has the opportunity to work in government by promising that the number of apprentices from less advantaged backgrounds never dips below the Social Mobility Commission threshold of 39%.
Together, these reforms will diversify that pipeline of talent and help us create a pool of public servants who are both highly skilled and properly reflect the communities they serve.
There’s also the advantage of delivering yet more routes to employment for the British public, building on the brilliant work being done in the Treasury and Department for Education to grow the number of apprenticeship opportunities offered in the private sector, such as offering cash incentives to support employers and creating the new Flexi-Job Apprenticeship scheme.
Delivering on the public’s priorities has always been the focus of this government and, from the record levels of employees on payroll to the £9 billion in support we’re giving to families facing cost of living pressures, we’ve proven time and again that we can rise to the challenge.
We delivered the fastest vaccine rollout in the world, thanks in no small part to the ingenuity of the Vaccine Task Force.
Raising our game once more to meet tomorrow’s challenges will not be easy, but we’re confident our apprentices will help put us on the right track.
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