Morrisons transfers more than £1m to support The Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Last year, Morrisons made a pledge to provide £2m to support the trust’s life-saving work. The fund supports training for more than 200 apprentices that have enrolled on the programme over the last 14 months.

To date, the fund has enabled 24 apprentices to complete their training, with a further 16 students progressing to a higher level programme in the Pathway, the Level 6 Paramedic Apprenticeship.

Yorkshire Ambulance Service runs the Pathway to Paramedic apprenticeship programme in Yorkshire, to provide a career development route for aspiring paramedics.

The programme allows students to learn on the frontline and includes classroom-based and blue-light driver training.

Clare Grainger, the group People Director at Morrisons, said: “We are proud to have reached this very significant milestone in our commitment to The Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust and we’re very much looking forward to seeing all of the apprentices achieve their qualifications at the end of the programmes.”

All apprentices are expected to complete their training by April 2024, generating a pipeline of more than 200 new paramedics, ambulance technicians and ambulance support workers for the region.

Earlier this week, Morrisons revealed it was cutting the price of 52 festive products that traditionally see an increase in sales as Christmas approaches.

Cranberry sauce, tin foil and stuffing are just some of the products included in the list that see an average increase in sales of more than 50 per cent from mid-November until Christmas compared to the rest of the year.

Speaking earlier this week, David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons said: “These festive price cuts are on the key seasonal products that we know customers buy more of at this time of year because of the important part they play in Christmas celebrations.

"We understand that our customers are having to make tough choices at the moment about what items to put in their baskets and so we are working hard to help them when it comes to their festive grocery shopping.”

Headquartered in Bradford since 1899, Morrisons employs around 110,000 staff in Morrisons and Morrisons Daily stores.

Food manufactured in Morrisons sites and stores is showcased with ‘Morrisons Makes It’ branding. It employs 6,000 trained butchers, bakers, fishmongers, cheesemongers and other skilled in-store staff.