Engineering company BAE Systems has been named Large Employer of the Year at the Learning and Skills Council’s (LSC) 2005 Apprenticeship Awards.
BAE Systems recruits about 280 apprentices a year to meet its commitment to customers and to help tackle the national shortage of qualified engineering staff.
Stephen Gardner, director of work based learning at the LSC, said apprenticeships were key to filling the 135,000 vacancies in the UK that cannot be filled because of a lack of skilled applicants.
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John Lee Male, head of learning and development at BAE Systems, said the low attrition rate of the programme ensured that BAE Systems maintained and enhanced its staff capability with enthusiastic and skilled young people.
“Our apprentices are self motivated, ready to take the initiative and go into problem-solving mode – reducing production time for the work they do by up to 25%,” he said.
