Labour’s Shadow Further Education and Skills Minister, Toby Perkins MP, was delighted to visit the Go Ahead London Apprenticeship Academy to learn more about their successful apprenticeship scheme. 

After a tour of the academy, Toby received a presentation on how the Academy recruits new apprentices from all backgrounds and ages. 

Toby met Go Ahead staff and discussed how they develop and retain new recruits. London’s biggest bus company, Go Ahead recruits around 1,000 people a year, making them the country’s leading apprenticeship provider in the bus sector.  

In addition to the all-important skills needed to drive a large vehicle in a busy city, Toby learnt how Go Ahead also educates apprentices across a range of important areas, such as delivering service excellence and being empathetic to vulnerable users. 

Following local MP Harriet Harman’s recent visit, Toby also discussed Labour’s plan to transform the Apprenticeship Levy into a more flexible ‘Growth and Skills Levy’, which was welcomed to use the maximum funds available to train and recruit the next generation of skilled workers. 

Toby Perkins MP said: “I was delighted to visit Go-Ahead’s excellent Apprenticeship Academy and speak to both management and apprentices about their journey into the sector. It was great to see people from so many backgrounds and stages in their lives learning new skills as part of a vibrant business community.  

Go-Ahead’s vision to grow their apprenticeship programme is admirable, as is their active drive to recruit more female bus drivers through bespoke recruitment events. From incorporating more carbon neutral buses in their fleet to developing a mentoring ‘buddy’ system, I was very encouraged to see a great example of transformative effect apprenticeships can have on workers and businesses”. 

 David Cutts, Go-Ahead London’s Managing Director said: “It was our pleasure to show Mr Perkins the pioneering work undertaken at Camberwell Academy and to explain to him what goes into preparing a new recruit bus driver to meet the challenge of serving London. Apprenticeships are in our DNA and we are pleased they have created an even more engaged workforce, which is good news for our passengers and the company.”