Business mogul Lord Sugar is back on our screens seeking his next ‘apprentice’ - but perhaps he should be looking in Swindon.

The area can boast of 1,210 people starting on apprenticeship schemes in the nine months to April this year, according to the Department for Education.

The most popular subject area chosen by the apprentices was business, administration and law. The next most in demand subjects were health, public services and care, and engineering and manufacturing technologies.

Apprenticeship and Skills Minister Anne Milton said apprenticeships could be a “passport into a range of exciting industries”, such as nuclear, food science, law, engineering, digital technology, nursing and planning.

The government says it will be focusing on improving apprenticeships in the 65 most deprived local authorities over the next two years. An apprentice will typically spend one day a week studying at a college or training organisation, while spending the rest training on the job under the guidance of experienced employees.

While popular wisdom might have you believe that apprenticeships are a route mainly for school leavers, this is not the case in Swindon.

The DfE publishes figures on three kinds of apprenticeships - intermediate, advanced, and higher.

In Swindon, 520 people began intermediate apprenticeships - the equivalent to GCSEs - last year, while 570 started advanced ones, the equivalent of A-levels. The remaining 120 embarked on competitive higher apprenticeships, which are on a par with foundation degrees or above.

Across England, around 290,500 workers began new apprenticeships over the nine months to April, and more than 181,600 successfully finished one during the same period.