School leavers will be placed in government departments as part of a new apprenticeship scheme, to be launched this April. A hundred 18-21-year-olds will join a two-year structured training programme, at the end of which they will be able to apply for graduate jobs within the civil service.
Head of the civil service Sir Bob Kerslake said he hopes the scheme will gain the same “credibility and status” as the Fast Stream. A lack of university education shouldn’t preclude a “bright career,” he said.