Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what outreach programmes are being conducted by (a) Defence Nuclear Enterprise, (b) Defence Equipment and Support and (c) other bodies responsible to his Department to engage with diverse and underrepresented groups to promote defence (i) apprenticeship and (ii) graduate schemes in London; and how many such programmes were undertaken in the last 12 months.

Defence is dedicated to recruiting and retaining the best talent, drawn from the broadest diversity of thought, skills, and background, to reflect the society we serve and ensure we maintain an advantage in a competitive age. It is mission critical to our operational effectiveness and to ensuring we continue to meet the threats we face and safeguard the security, stability, and prosperity of our nation. We will only meet these threats if all our people, regardless of background, are confident that their efforts and skills are properly recognised, their individuality and experience respected and are able to achieve their full potential.

Defence is involved in a number of relationships that directly link to both apprenticeships and graduate opportunities, including national and multicultural apprenticeship awards; National Apprenticeship Week; Apprenticeship Ambassador Network; Universities and Colleges Admission Service; university careers fairs; the 5% Club and the Youth Futures Foundation. In the time available to answer this question it has not been possible to identify the number or location of all such interactions over the last 12 months, but given that most of these relationships operate nationwide, London is undoubtedly included.