Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many and what proportion of the staff employed by his Department are apprentices.
The Northern Ireland Office, despite our relatively small size, has had 3 members of staff successfully complete apprenticeship qualifications in recent months. These 3 staff equated to 3% of our London staff, exceeding the public sector target of 2.3%. These staff members completed their apprenticeships at the end of 2020. As a result, we currently have no apprentices; however, we have started recruiting to ensure we can continue to meet this target.