Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Apprentices

(asked on 2nd February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of the staff employed by his Department are apprentices.


Answered by
John Whittingdale Portrait
John Whittingdale
This question was answered on 8th February 2021

As of 31 March 2020, the Civil Service has achieved a total of 2.1% of its total workforce as apprentices against the legislative target for the public sector of 2.3% by March 2021.

As at the end of January 2021, DCMS employed 1,726 FTE civil servants, 14 of whom are currently apprentices (0.81% of staff). This target is a percentage of the total workforce so the percentage attained will change in line with workforce fluctuations over time, making it challenging to predict when a department will meet it. The data for 2018/19 can be found here. The data for 2019/20 can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-apprenticeship-data-2018-to-2019.

DCMS is committed to increasing the number of apprentices across the Civil Service and continue to work towards the 2.3% target. The impact of the current pandemic has slowed progress against the target due to priority work and logistics. DCMS had four apprentice starts in the first three quarters of 2020-21 and has a further 11 starts planned for Q4. This would take us to 1.68% by the end of the financial year.

With the current strategy and targets coming to an end in April 2021, the Civil Service is focusing on how to continue to support the apprenticeship agenda and drive forward apprenticeship recruitment, building on the Plan for Jobs initiative and considering the current economic situation.

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