South West Norfolk MP Terry Jermy discusses his visit to Thetford Power Station and importance of apprenticeships

In his fortnightly column, MP Terry Jermy talks about his visit to Europe's largest poultry litter-fuelled power station and the importance of apprenticeships …

Last week I had the pleasure of hosting Daniel Zeichner, the Minister of State for Food Security and Rural Affairs, in the constituency.

We visited Thetford Power Station, Europe's largest poultry litter-fuelled power station which has been generating green energy for more than 20 years.

Sites like Thetford Power Station also support 100 highly skilled local jobs, providing another benefit to our community, as well as being indispensable to the farming community by providing a sustainable method for disposing of chicken waste.

It was very important to have the minister here to see a truly world-leading business and indeed sustainable model for providing energy.

The government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan understands that sustainable biomass plants, such as Thetford, are key to helping deliver those environmental goals and target decarbonising many sectors of the economy. The power stations' output reduces CO2 emissions by some 85,000 tonnes each year by displacing the equivalent amount of generation from gas-fired plants.

The minister said: “This is an important facility for the local farming community that turns a waste product into electricity. I was particularly pleased to meet a number of apprentices on the visit - it is great to see the investment in jobs and skills.”

And last week across the UK it was national apprenticeship week, of which I spoke in a parliamentary debate to champion local businesses, such as Warren Services, an engineering firm with a proud track record – specialists in machine engineering with more than 30 years’ experience.

Also, at the power station it was also great to see a number of apprenticeships being employed at the power station, demonstrating how maintaining crucial infrastructure such as Thetford Power Station provides numerous benefits to our community.

Apprenticeships offer a way into many industries in rural communities including land management, farming, planning services, engineering, energy as well as nature conservation.

So often I talk to businesses in my constituency who struggle to recruit, cannot find the people with the right skills and their businesses suffer as a result.

Apprenticeships are an important tool for addressing this challenge and since Labour took office, apprenticeship starts are up, participation is up, and achievements are up.

I look forward to working with the minister, and the rest of the government over the next four years to ensure that investment in infrastructure such as Thetford Power Station is supported and backed by the government, ensuring South West Norfolk reaches its potential.