Apprentices: Small Businesses
(asked on 23rd April 2024) - View Source
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many level 7 apprenticeship starts there have been in small and medium sized businesses in each of the last five years.
The most recent statistics on apprenticeship starts by business size relate to the 2020/21 academic year and are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics.
The following table shows the number of apprenticeship starts at Level 6 and above by business size in the last five academic years for which data is available. Apprenticeships at Level 6 and 7 are not split out within published data so the figures are a combined total.
| 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 |
Small (0-49 employees) | 240 | 1,430 | 2,880 | 3,870 | 5,540 |
Medium (50-249 employees) | 80 | 850 | 1,550 | 1,850 | 2,390 |
Data for 2021/22 will be published in July 2024.
Apprenticeship starts are defined as the count of apprenticeship programmes that begin in an academic year, showing the take-up of programmes. An apprentice is counted for each apprenticeship they start at a provider.
More details on the methodology can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/methodology/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics-methodology#content-section-4-content-1.