London, (IANS) : Britain’s public sector has been set the task of recruiting 200,000 apprentices by 2020, the government said.

Skills Minister Robert Halfon announced that the Department for Education (DfE) set the public sector the target in the next three years, Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.

Public sector bodies which employ 250 or more people would face a legal duty to recruit apprentices under a law set to be implemented from April.

The aim of the strategy was to give more young people the chance to kick-start a career.

“The reform will create thousands of quality opportunities in the public sector, giving more people the chance to launch or develop their career,” said a spokesman for the DfE.

The announcement builds on a government commitment to deliver 3 million apprenticeships by 2020, by requiring at least 2.3 per cent of the workforce in public bodies in England to be apprentices.