Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many seafarer apprentices have been trained by private shipping companies operating in the UK since 17 March 2022.

There were 50 apprenticeship starts in England on the Seafarer (Deck Rating) apprenticeship standard in the 2021/22 academic year, 40 starts in 2022/23 and 20 starts reported so far, August to October, for 2023/24. The department cannot identify whether the apprenticeship employer is a private shipping company.