The government will restrict civil service internships to students from poorer families as part of a drive from ministers to make Whitehall more working class.The main internship scheme designed to attract university students to the civil service will now only be available for students from “lower socio-economic backgrounds”, judged by what jobs their parents did when they were 14.Those who are successful on the internship will then be prioritised for entry to the Fast Stream, the main graduate programme for entry to the civil service.Conservative shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood said: “No young person should be told they’re not welcome based solely on leftist social engineering.”The change has been driven by Pat McFadden, who as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is responsible for civil service reform.He told the BBC: “We need to get more working class young people into the civil service so it harnesses the broadest range of talent and truly reflects the country. “Government makes better decisions when it represents and understands the people we serve.”Currently around a quarter of higher education students are from a lower socio-economic background, but the group represented only 12% of successful applicants to the Fast Stream in 2024.Some Labour ministers have come to believe in their first year in office that parts of the civil service are too privileged, with people who have come from similar backgrounds.A summer internship programme already exists. The programme is for undergraduates in their final two years of university, lasts six to eight weeks and is paid, with a s …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnThe government will restrict civil service internships to students from poorer families as part of a drive from ministers to make Whitehall more working class.The main internship scheme designed to attract university students to the civil service will now only be available for students from “lower socio-economic backgrounds”, judged by what jobs their parents did when they were 14.Those who are successful on the internship will then be prioritised for entry to the Fast Stream, the main graduate programme for entry to the civil service.Conservative shadow Cabinet Office minister Mike Wood said: “No young person should be told they’re not welcome based solely on leftist social engineering.”The change has been driven by Pat McFadden, who as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is responsible for civil service reform.He told the BBC: “We need to get more working class young people into the civil service so it harnesses the broadest range of talent and truly reflects the country. “Government makes better decisions when it represents and understands the people we serve.”Currently around a quarter of higher education students are from a lower socio-economic background, but the group represented only 12% of successful applicants to the Fast Stream in 2024.Some Labour ministers have come to believe in their first year in office that parts of the civil service are too privileged, with people who have come from similar backgrounds.A summer internship programme already exists. The programme is for undergraduates in their final two years of university, lasts six to eight weeks and is paid, with a s …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
