Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to re-open the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers.

The decision to close the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers from midnight on 15 April 2020 was made as part of the implementation of the unprecedented response necessary across all of education and children’s social care to support the government’s response to COVID-19. These arrangements include the redeployment of Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) staff resources to priority areas, and the date of any re-opening of the register is being kept under review. The ESFA is currently looking into when and how to re-open the register in a way that continues to offer the right level of high-quality training. The ESFA are currently working through options and will provide an update in due course.

However, the ESFA are keen to ensure that levy-paying employers delivering services critical to the COVID-19 response, such as police forces and the NHS, are able to provide the apprenticeship training that their organisation needs. Levy-payers that employ critical workers, as defined by the department’s guidance, have been permitted to apply to the employer provider route by exception whilst the register has been closed. More details on this guidance are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-maintaining-educational-provision/guidance-for-schools-colleges-and-local-authorities-on-maintaining-educational-provision.