Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of people aged 25 and over undertaking training in apprenticeships.

In the first quarter (August to October 2017) of the 2017/18 academic year, 33,400 people aged 25 and over started an apprenticeship (see attached).

We have made significant changes to the way we build a skilled workforce and in light of this it would be premature to draw definitive conclusions on the basis of the limited data available. We fully expect there to be a period of adjustment while employers decide how to maximise the opportunities these reforms present them.

Apprenticeships offer an excellent route into skilled employment for people of all ages and backgrounds. We are working with employers closely to support them in growing their apprenticeship programmes and feedback shows they are positive about the benefits that apprenticeships can bring to their business.

A new phase of our communications campaign started on 26 January 2018, to encourage employers to offer high quality apprenticeship opportunities and to promote these to potential apprentices, including those over 25.

We are clear that everyone should benefit from the apprenticeship reforms and we are seeing that across England with over 1.2 million starts since 2015.