British Energy, the UK's largest electricity supplier, has signed a £10 million, seven-year partnership contract with Flagship Training (Flagship) to deliver its apprentice programme from September 2008.

Flagship will create and deliver an advanced modern apprenticeship training programme for British Energy, which runs eight nuclear power stations and one coal-fired power station across the UK.

From September 2008, Flagship, which is the Royal Navy's training partner, will train each new intake of apprentices at their academy, based in HMS Sultan, Gosport, Hampshire. The residential scheme will combine technical engineering training, with a comprehensive life skills programme.


David Barber, British Energy's Head of Technical Training, said: "This will be the first time that we have brought all of our apprentices together under one training regime, and we think the benefits for them and for us as a company will be tremendous.

"The training experience they will get at Flagship's Academy will be second to none and will ensure that the technicians we return to our stations will be a real asset. British Energy's world class safety standards, our values and our expectations are built into the programme. We are developing mature and capable employees who will come back to our power stations to make a major contribution both in the stations we operate today and hopefully in any new nuclear power stations we run in the future."

(CD/JM)