Apprentices will play a significant role in the future of Scotland's gas network workforce and its journey to net zero, SGN CEO Mark Wild has said, as he welcomes the launch of National Apprenticeship Week (NAW).

Mark, who is Chair of the Energy & Utility Skills Partnership (EUSP), said: "The gas networks are intrinsic in keeping this country powered so are going to be very important as we transition to cleaner gases like biomethane and hydrogen. The gap we have in skills, trained engineers and traineeships is quite significant and so we really need a talented workforce of the future for what I think is one of the greatest challenges we've ever faced."

Running all this week, NAW serves as an opportunity to celebrate apprenticeships and the positive impact they have. The theme for this year is 'Skills for Life'.

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SGN is committed to bringing in 120 new apprentices and trainees into the business each year, for the next three years, helping to develop them into our engineers of the future. In the past year, we've hired 104 apprentices across our Scotland and southern networks and we're looking forward to welcoming an extra 48 apprentices from April 2024. Apprentices like this will play an important part of our future as we need new skills to help us with the decarbonisation of the UK's gas network.

Mark, who is passionate about advancing skills and knowledge in the industry, was appointed Chair of the EUSP in September 2023. The EUSP is a voluntary partnership of 30 energy and utilities companies and their major supply chain partners. It provides leadership for the gas, power, water and waste management industries on issues including skills and workforce renewal.

He added: "I'm very pleased to be the Chair of the Energy & Utility Skills Partnership and it's important to me because when you take a big step back and look at the whole energy network, we face the start of the new industrial revolution.

"Apprentices are important to us because they're the future of our workforce. The value of what we do every single day is all about the quality of our people – their training, their competency, the culture, their commitment – and having apprenticeships of all different types is the bedrock of the future, so we're very committed every single year to take on our share of apprenticeships and it's great to see the young people today coming through who I'm sure will have fantastic careers."