Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many supported internships have been completed by local authority.

Data on the number of supported internships in each local authority, as at January 2018, is available in table 5 of the following data set: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2018.

There is some research evidence available which indicates that supported internships may be effective in supporting young people to achieve positive outcomes. The evaluation of a department-led trial of supported internships conducted across 15 colleges in 2012/13, for example, reported that 36% of the 109 supported internship participants had obtained paid employment (including apprenticeships) by the end of the year-long trial.

We are keen to do more to increase the uptake of supported internships and are considering how we can build the evidence base further. This includes looking into current models of supported internship delivery to enable us to share evidence with providers of promising practice.