Royal Mail: The 5 Cities Project Gets Support From Royal Mail

In a drive to boost the number of people in scarcely-represented groups for apprenticeships, Royal Mail took part in a new project launch.

A new project launch has seen the involvement of the Royal Mail in order to boost the representation of marginalised groups going for apprenticeships. The project will encompass five leading cities in England, who have made an agreement to support the government for raising apprenticeship diversity, and also to ensure that people from diverse backgrounds have access to those schemes.

The Department of Education launched the '5 Cities Project'. It will mark the involvement of the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) with partners in cities like Leicester, Greater Manchester, Bristol, London, and Birmingham. Apprenticeships will be promoted among marginalised groups, which include - BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) individuals, and people from underprivileged environments.  As part of the project, all the cities have taken a pledge for improving diversity in the domain of apprenticeships, on a local level. One can look at the example of Greater Manchester, which has an objective of offering 16% representation of BAME in apprenticeship programmes. Leicester will put efforts in to boost apprenticeships from backward communities.

Apprenticeships and skills minister and conservative MP, Anne Milton, was invited by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), for the programme launch. Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, was also invited. Paula Gibson, apprenticeship programme manager stated that even though the project was in its early stages, it provided a great opportunity for the Royal Mail to partake in. 

Darren Borthwick, the national engineering apprenticeship programme manager, was accompanied by an apprentice named Jerome Bosman. Bosman, who is from a mail centre in Southampton, stated that the Royal Mail Group is a torchbearer of equality, fairness, and inclusion. He described the organisation as a place which offers equal opportunities for everyone to find work, regardless of their aspirations, current situation or backgrounds. He expressed pride in being a supporter of the 5 Cities Project by the Department of Education.

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