Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness among students of vocational internships as an alternative to university.

Internships are work experience placements often undertaken by higher education students and graduates looking to gain relevant skills and experience in a particular field.

Outside of higher education, the department widely promotes apprenticeships as jobs with relevant training in a particular profession and is targeting 3 million apprenticeships by 2020.

High quality work placements will also be a key element of T levels, which are the centre piece of our technical education reforms. We have begun working with employers, including the launch of a pilot scheme, to test different models and approaches to delivering T level placements.

Schools are responsible for providing independent careers guidance on the full range of education and training options both academic and vocational.