Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of apprenticeships in the construction sector.

We have introduced a wide range of reforms to apprenticeships to improve their quality and encourage employers in all sectors to increase the number of apprenticeships they offer.

We are pleased that the construction sector has committed to increase apprenticeship starts to 25,000 a year by 2020, as part of its Sector Deal with the government. We are working closely with them to achieve this (for example, the Construction Industry Training Board links employers and apprentices, and can see encouraging momentum towards this goal).

In the first half of 2018-19, there were 16,700 starts in the Construction, Planning and Built Environment sector, an increase from 16,080 and from 15,060 at the same points in 2017-18 and 2016-17 respectively. 70 industry-designed apprenticeship standards are available in the construction sector, with 30 more standards in development.

To support all employers to make the long-term, sustainable investment in training, in April 2019 we halved the co-investment rate from 10% to 5% for new starts and increased the amount that levy paying employers can transfer to other employers from 10% to 25%.

Through our ‘Fire it Up’ communication campaign, we are also working across the country to raise awareness of apprenticeships and the benefits that they bring to both employers and apprentices.