UK Government puts tech apprentice programme on hiatus

The UK Government’s flagship Fast Track civil service apprenticeship scheme will not open for applications in 2019 due to a review of the programme, the Cabinet Office has announced.

In a statement on Friday, the Cabinet Office said the two-year programme – which includes digital, data, and technology as one of its six tracks – is “currently under review”.

"This is an exciting opportunity for us to evolve the programme, but it does mean that for 2019 we will not be open for applications,” the statement said.

A Cabinet Office spokesman confirmed to Holyrood’s sister site Civil Service World that the review was being undertaken “to make improvements to what we offer future apprentices from 2020”.

“Those currently on the scheme will not be affected,” the spokesman added. “The civil service runs apprenticeship schemes across all government departments and applicants can continue to apply for them.”

The Fast Track was launched in 2013 and formed a key part of the civil service’s response to the government’s target to create three million apprenticeship starts by 2020. The programme is a level 4 higher apprenticeship and is intended to provide a cross-government programme alongside departmental schemes, was “currently under review”.

Since its launch, over 2,000 apprentices have joined the scheme and kick-started their civil service career across six of government’s professions. Alongside the DDaT track, business administration, commercial, finance, policy, and project delivery are also included.

A total of 976 apprentices were taken on across its 2017 and 2018 programmes, and the annual report, published last December, said the Cabinet Office had been working in the year “to identify opportunities to evolve and enhance the delivery of the scheme”.

It added that “our ambition is to deliver a consistent quality of experience for apprentices across all departments, professions and locations” through improved quality of learning provision across all schemes and locations; and creating a greater sense of community by giving all apprentices the opportunity to form strong networks.

However, that report indicated that there were still plans for a 2019 recruitment round at that time, stating: “We are already taking steps to address these three areas and this is something we will continue to focus upon in the upcoming 2019 Fast Track campaign.”