Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made the number of apprentices that have been (a) made redundant and (b) furloughed through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme since the beginning of the covid-19 outbreak.

We do not publish data on redundant or furloughed apprentices.

We know that almost 600 apprentices since 1 August have either contacted us for advice through our new redundancy support service or have registered for our vacancy sharing service. Over 750 employers have signed up to offer opportunities to redundant apprentices, including Bupa Dental and Taylor Wimpey.

The support service provides advice and guidance to apprentices who have been made redundant, or are at risk of redundancy, on their options and next steps. It also supports apprentices to identify new apprenticeship and employment opportunities with employers looking to recruit. In addition, we are changing the law to enable more apprentices to complete their apprenticeship in the event of redundancy.