Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to reach the public sector apprenticeship target.

The Home Office is six months into the implementation of the Apprenticeships Operating Model (AOM) designed to centralise all HR end-to-end processes (including streamlining recruitment activities through to programme onboarding). The growth of a dedicated team has been stood up to increase the quality and quality of apprenticeships for the future. This industry tested model has the capacity and capability to meet the minimum 2.3% statutory target (England workforce) annually. To enable delivery, there are strong governance frameworks in place which are closely connected to the Home Office People Strategy 2018 – 2023.

The refreshed AOM and strengthened workforce planning enables the dept. to address the target shortfall and annual ministerial commitments within a two-year period. Key to assessing performance is through the delivery of a robust Assurance Framework to ensure demand and delivery are aligned and reviewed quarterly and RAG status at Director General level.

In the coming six months, the Home Office is committed to prioritising apprenticeships recruitment across operational delivery (largest population in the department), policy and digital professions. This demonstrates the Home Office’s pledge to future skills development: attracting the best talent from the external labour market whilst creating opportunities for internal professional capability building.