Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help into employment apprentices who have had their graduations delayed due to the covid-19 outbreak.

We are committed to supporting apprentices and employers to safely continue with, and complete, their programmes during the COVID-19 outbreak while maintaining quality.

We have worked closely with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education and Ofqual to introduce flexibilities to 120 apprenticeships to mitigate the effects of disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak to end-point assessment. It is this assessment which certifies an apprentice has achieved occupational competence and completed the apprenticeship. Flexibilities include remote assessment where practicable, 12-week extensions to the time limit for completion, and relaxation of the order in which elements can be taken, and these have now been extended until March 2021. We continue to review the flexibilities in place to ensure high-quality assessment can continue and to support apprentices to take the next-steps in their careers. Apprentices are employed throughout the duration of their apprenticeship, but we have also made it possible for apprentices made redundant during COVID-19 to continue to take their end-point assessments and have introduced support to help them find a new employer.

Provisional figures show that 46,930 apprentices achieved their apprenticeships (frameworks and standards) between March 23 and the end of July this year.