BAE announces largest apprenticeships intake for five years

BAE Systems plans to recruit 387 engineering and business apprentices across its UK businesses in 2013 – the highest intake since 2008 – and 60 more than the company recruited in 2012.

The announcement comes as Prime Minister David Cameron continues to urge businesses across the country to take on apprentices to stimulate economic growth through manufacturing, exports and infrastructure.

Almost 10 per cent of the new recruits will join the five-year Higher Apprentice Programme which combines invaluable on-the-job training with the opportunity to  study degree-level qualifications, free from tuition fees.

The newly-recruited apprentices will work across BAE Systems’ numerous sites, joining a workforce of 35,000 at the UK’s largest employer of engineers including, at the military aircraft business at Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire. Nigel Whitehead of BAE said: “Our continued commitment to the apprentice programme reflects the sustainable position of our UK business and the success of the programme in generating BAE Systems’ workforce of the future. We like to train people from an early age and find that the combination of on-the-job training and academic study without debt, is a great motivator for our apprentices to stay with us. We look forward to welcoming our new intake in September.”