Shadow Chancellor and Business Secretary up tools with Scottish Labour leader to meet energy apprentices

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Empowering the energy transition, shadow chancellor and business secretary up tools with Scottish labour leader to meet energy apprentices.

• Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Shadow Business and Industrial Strategy Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, and the leader of the Scottish Labour Party Anas Sarwar have met Scottish Gas apprentices on a visit to the company’s training academy in Hamilton on Friday. 
• Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea reiterated the company’s pledge to recruit 3,500 apprentices by the end of the decade. 

Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves MP, along with Shadow Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds MP and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar MSP today upped tools on a visit to learn more about the work Centrica is doing to train apprentices in support of the delivery of net zero and upskilling of the UK workforce.

On a visit to the Scottish Gas Hamilton Skills Academy, the trio met some of the company’s newest recruits who are part of Centrica’s commitment to take on 3,500 apprentices by 2030 – one a day until the end of the decade. 

The Shadow Chancellor was joined by Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Industrial Strategy Jonathan Reynolds and the leader of the Scottish Labour Party Anas Sarwar at the Ofsted registered Academy which has trained more than 2,000 apprentices since it was opened in 2008.

A report commissioned by Centrica as part of this year’s National Apprenticeship Week found children as young as 10 consider having a positive impact on the planet to be a factor in their career paths. Scottish Gas apprentices range from those leaving school to those retraining after a life in the Armed Forces. 20 per cent of apprentices hired since 2020 are female and the company has an ambition for this to be 50 per cent.  

Rachel Reeves MP, Shadow Chancellor said: “It’s fantastic to meet Scottish Gas apprentices who will help deliver the exciting energy upgrade our country needs as we strive towards net zero. As we make the transition, Labour is determined that no worker or community is left behind, by creating good jobs and boosting Scottish industry.”

Chris O’Shea, Centrica Group Chief Executive said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Rachel, Jonny and Anas and introduce them to some of our inspirational apprentices and trainees who will deliver the energy transition. We have a generational opportunity to create high quality, well paid new jobs in the emerging green industries of the future. We’re committed to doing our part to create green skills, lower bills, meet the UK’s climate change ambitions and secure energy independence.” 

Lisa Clarke, an Apprentice Smart Energy Expert, recently joined the apprenticeship programme after an 18-year career as a higher-level teaching assistant: “I initially trained at Scottish Gas because I wanted to learn a new skill and give myself a new challenge. I came across the apprenticeship programme and loved how inclusive it was. I can already see that being part of the net zero drive will be incredibly rewarding.”