Apprentices: Enfield North

(asked on 5th September 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support apprenticeships in Enfield North constituency.


Answered by
Robert Halfon Portrait
Robert Halfon
This question was answered on 13th September 2023

Apprenticeships are crucial in driving growth and social mobility. They boost skills across the economy and improve people's earnings and career opportunities nationwide. Since 2010, there have been 7,790 apprenticeship starts in the Enfield North constituency, and the department wants to ensure that this number continues to grow.

To support this, the government is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25, encouraging more employers across the country to recruit new apprentices. The department has introduced flexible training models, such as flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, to make apprenticeships more accessible and has improved the transfer system so that levy-payers can make better use of their funds. We are also supporting employers to access apprenticeships by reducing administrative burdens and cutting the number of steps needed to register to take on an apprentice by one third.

The department recognises the vital role that small to medium-sized employers (SMEs) play in creating apprenticeship opportunities. That is why we removed the limit on the number of apprentices that smaller employers can take on, making it easier for SMEs to grow their businesses with the skilled apprentices they need.

The department is also allocating an additional £40 million over the next two years to support degree apprenticeship providers to expand and help more people access this provision, on top of our £8 million investment in 2022/23.

Furthermore, in August, the care leavers bursary increased for apprentices under the age of 25 from £1,000 to £3,000, supporting more people from all backgrounds to undertake apprenticeships.

We continue to promote apprenticeships to young people in schools and further education colleges across the country through our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme, and UCAS will be expanding its service to allow students to search for and apply to apprenticeships alongside degrees.

Reticulating Splines