{"id":780624,"date":"2026-09-24T03:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T03:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780624\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T03:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T03:12:12","slug":"uk-defence-contractors-to-offer-40000-apprenticeships-placements-and-jobs-apprenticeships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/780624\/","title":{"rendered":"UK defence contractors to offer 40,000 apprenticeships, placements and jobs | Apprenticeships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defence contractors have promised to create 40,000 apprenticeships, work experience placements and jobs for young people each year, as Wes Streeting<\/a> claimed to be overseeing a \u201cministry for growth\u201d.<\/p>\n

Labour is keen to demonstrate that the rapid increase in defence spending planned for the coming years, which may necessitate tax rises, will result in jobs in the UK.<\/p>\n

In particular, Streeting said he was determined the defence industry should play its part in tackling what he called the \u201cmoral emergency\u201d of almost 1 million 16-to 24-year-olds<\/a> not in education, employment or training (Neet).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have a responsibility, as we\u2019re investing more in the defence of the realm, to do so in a way that boosts British jobs, British industry, and helps to deal with this moral emergency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want the Ministry of Defence to be a ministry of growth and a ministry of opportunity, and that\u2019s how we\u2019re going to direct our defence spending.\u201d<\/p>\n

The defence secretary was speaking before a roundtable with leaders from large contractors, including BAE Systems, MDBA and Rolls-Royce<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The firms have signed up to a series of pledges aimed at opening up more opportunities for young people.<\/p>\n

They have promised to offer 40,000 18- to 24-year-olds each year an opportunity in the sector by 2030 \u2013 whether via work experience, an apprenticeship or a permanent role. That is scheduled to rise to 50,000 by 2035.<\/p>\n

The industry has also pledged to implement a \u201cno wrong door\u201d approach, signposting unsuccessful applicants to opportunities elsewhere in the defence supply chain.<\/p>\n

Other signatories include Babcock, Thales and Airbus. Streeting said he saw the projected increase in defence spending as an opportunity to pursue Andy Burnham\u2019s goal of re-industrialising the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overwhelming majority of defence spending takes place outside London and the south-east. So in terms of the prime minister\u2019s ambition for re-industrialisation of Britain, growth in every postcode and opportunity spread throughout the land, defence is already there and ready to deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour has already set out plans to increase defence spending to 2.7% of GDP from next year, funded in part by sharp cuts in the UK\u2019s overseas aid budget.<\/p>\n

John Healey resigned as defence secretary in June, insisting Keir Starmer\u2019s government should raise that to 3% by 2030. As chancellor, however, he has made clear he is not ready to commit to that target<\/a>, with the decision postponed until a spending review planned for next year.<\/p>\n

Asked about the timetable for hitting 3% of GDP, Streeting said: \u201cI believe that the John Healey<\/a> that I work with day-to-day as chancellor is the same John Healey that I worked with when he was defence secretary, with the same commitment to our national security and our economic prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He added: \u201cI would urge people to wait for the budget, wait for the spending review. I feel confident that we will deliver the investment that this country needs to secure our national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given tight spending plans across other Whitehall departments for the final years of this parliament, many analysts believe hitting the 3% target is likely to require tax increases.<\/p>\n

The defence jobs initiative comes before the publication of former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn\u2019s final report on Neets.<\/p>\n

Milburn has underlined the importance of work experience in preparing young people for a job, and opening their eyes to potential careers. He said the defence pledge \u201cshows what is possible when employers step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDefence is one of our great industries \u2013 it has both the scale and the opportunity to give young people the experience, skills and confidence they need to build a career,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Labour is already rolling out a Jobs Guarantee scheme<\/a> for 18- to 24-year-olds who have been out of work for at least 18 months \u2013 with the promise of a taxpayer-funded work placement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defence contractors have promised to create 40,000 apprenticeships, work experience placements and jobs for young people each year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-780624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}