Question

To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker what plans there are to develop dedicated apprenticeship schemes, traineeships or bursaries linked to the restoration of the Palace of Westminster, particularly for endangered heritage crafts.

The R&R Delivery Authority is exploring implementing a shared apprenticeship scheme across heritage client organisations. This scheme is intended to provide small and medium enterprises who may otherwise lack a breadth of work or planned projects the opportunity to engage in the upskilling of an apprentice without the need to commit to the full duration of the programme.

The R&R Programme is intending to provide new pathways into heritage skills, offering vocational training and employment opportunities while safeguarding specific endangered trades and techniques (for example, historic stained-glass window-making). The Programme will also require numerous other heritage trades where there are known skills shortages, for example upholstery, heritage plastering, and heritage carpentry/joinery.