Businesses large and small from across the East of England have been recognised in the annual Centrica Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer list.

Two Suffolk companies on the list range in size from Bury St Edmunds-based pubs and brewing group Greene King, the UK’s largest operator of directly managed pubs, to the Suffolk Canine Creche at Martlesham, near Ipswich, a luxury care service for dogs launched by entrepreneur Candace Rose in 2012.

The Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer list, run in partnership with the National Apprenticeship Service, recognises businesses that work hard to ensure their apprentices become successful role models for others.

Greene King, which is included in the list for the second year running, was also recently ranked 27th in the national Rate My Apprenticeship Top 70 School Leaver Employers Table for 2017, which is based on ratings by apprentices themselves.

Rooney Anand, Greene King chief executive, said: “It’s fantastic to see Greene King being celebrated as one of the UK’s top apprenticeship employers by both the National Apprenticeship Service and those who have gone through our programme.

“We passionately believe that apprentices are vital for the hospitality industry and offer long-term career opportunities.” Candace Rose, managing director at Suffolk Canine Creche, said: “Apprentices are the backbone of our business. Our programme is established and we have invested greatly in the development of our young staff.

“We have retained 100% of staff that joined us through this programme and this ‘grow your own’ approach has allowed us to evolve as a business”

Essex businesses on the list include Chelmsford-based e2v, Rose Builders from Lawford, near Manningree, and Maycast-Nokes Precision Engineering from Halstead.

Sara Laver, head of people development at e2v, which develops technology for sectors ranging from healthcare to defence, said: “We are extremely proud of our schemes which give our apprentices great skills and knowledge, while working and earning money.

“Our highly valued technicians and engineers help the company to achieve its objectives, and are developing the essential technical skills required to support the UK economy. We invest a huge amount of effort in our apprentices because we value them as the workforce of the future.”