Encouraging Apprenticeships and Green Skills at Thatcham Academy

This National Apprenticeship Week, I had the opportunity to visit the British Gas Academy at Thatcham to learn about a few of the talented apprentices who are training for energy installation and green technologies roles.

My tour guides were apprentices Jordan and Kasie, who shared their experience in the Home Install Apprenticeship Programme. It is clear they're acquiring technical abilities but also training in customer skills and sales to become successful careers. It was truly inspiring how passionate they are about their jobs.

One of the highlights of my visit was the Green Hub at the academy, where the apprentices are trained to install and maintain air source heat pumps and EV charging points. As we move towards net zero, these skills are going to be in massive demand—and it's great to see apprentices in the area being trained up to lead the way on green energy solutions.

British Gas is recruiting over 400 apprentices this year as part of a decade-long plan to train 3,500 apprentices by 2030. The value of apprenticeships is clear: they provide a secure way into well-paid work, and a new survey said nearly three out of four adults believe they offer long-term security of employment.

Although the potential available at Thatcham Academy is impressive, I would like to see more people being given the chance to retrain and gain useful skills. That is why I am calling on the government to make the apprenticeship levy available to fund short conversion courses. This would help people who want to move into areas like renewable energy and engineering, filling vital skills gaps and helping our local economy to be boosted.

Apprenticeships like these at Thatcham Academy are at the heart of our future, both in equipping individuals with access to secure, high-quality work and in driving the UK's transition to a cleaner, greener energy economy. It was wonderful to experience the work being done here for myself, and I will continue to press for greater flexibility in skills funding in order to support more people into training.

If you, or someone you know, are in search of an apprenticeship, I would highly recommend checking out the British Gas Academy opportunities based in Thatcham.