Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason the Government classes older apprentices as those over the age of 25; and if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of raising that age.

Apprenticeships offer an excellent route into skilled employment for people of all ages.

The department’s historic measure of finishing formal education is 25, and for all historic and future social mobility measures, the age of 25 is classed as adult.

We provide detailed figures for apprenticeship starts by age as part of our Statistical First Release, which is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/675513/201617_apprenticeships_detailed_demographic_tool_by_SSAv2.xlsx.