Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how many and what proportion of the staff employed by her Department are apprentices.

As of 31 March 2020, the Civil Service has achieved a total of 2.1% of its total workforce as apprentices against the legislative target for the public sector of 2.3% by March 2021.

As of 31st December 2020, there were 115 apprentices employed by the Department for International Trade (DIT) and UK Export Finance (UKEF). It equates to 3.2% of the total domestic staff employed by DIT and UKEF.

This target is a percentage of the total workforce so the percentage attained will change in line with workforce fluctuations over time, making it challenging to predict when a department will meet it. The data for 2018/19 can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-apprenticeship-data-2018-to-2019. The data for 2019/20 can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-apprenticeship-data-2019-to-2020.

Departments are committed to increasing the number of apprentices across the Civil Service and continue to work towards the 2.3% target.