Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will make an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of NVQ Level 6 Environmental practitioner degrees in the North East of England; and what discussions she has had with industry stakeholders on the availability of that course.

There is not a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in this subject at Level 6. There is, however, a Level 6 Environmental Practitioner apprenticeship.

Apprenticeships are jobs with a substantial level of training available for career starters and those looking to upskill and retrain in over 670 high-quality occupations between Level 2-7.

In the 2021/22 academic year, there were 50 starts on the Level 6 Environmental Practitioner (Degree) apprenticeship across England, with starts growing higher each year. There were no starts in the North-East in the 2021/22 academic year. Level 6 and 7 apprenticeship standards range from one to five years in duration, and typically take three to four years to complete. There are no recorded completions on this standard currently.

The government wants to further accelerate the growth of degree apprenticeships across all regions and is therefore providing an additional £40 million in Strategic Priorities Grant funding over the next two years, on top of the £8 million investment in the 2022/23 financial year to support this.

The department continues to regularly meet with higher education institutions in the North-East to discuss ways we can increase the uptake of degree apprenticeships. In addition, the department has made excellent progress on the national rollout of Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs), with employer representative bodies designated to lead the development of LSIPs in all 38 areas of England. This brings providers and employers together in one place to design provision that meets their needs.