Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to support apprenticeship schemes in the agri-food sector.

New employer designed apprenticeship standards are at the centre of the Government’s drive to ensure all apprenticeships are of the highest quality. There are now 20 new high quality standards available in the agriculture, environmental and animal care sector, plus a further 15 in development. Available standards include crop technician and land based service engineer.

A full list of standards is published on the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s website:

https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/ .

The Department for Education (DfE) is responsible for apprenticeships policy in England. Defra works closely with DfE on how the apprenticeship system works for the agri-food sector.

Defra also seeks to act as a bridge between industry and Government to support the sector in making the most of the Government’s apprenticeships reforms. The key mechanism for this activity is the Food and Drink Sector Council, which has identified skills as a key priority. Options to support and improve engagement with agri-food apprenticeships, as well as wider skills related issues, are being developed as part of the work of the Workforce and Skills Group of the Council.