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 degree apprenticeships.

Degree apprenticeships provide people of all backgrounds with a unique opportunity to combine degree-level study with being in a job and earning from day one.

We are encouraged to see year on year growth in degree-level apprenticeships (levels 6 and 7), with over 138,000 starts since their introduction in the 2014/15 academic year. Employers, working in partnership with providers, have already developed over 150 apprenticeship standards available at levels 6 and 7, of which over 100 include a degree. We want to see that strong growth continue.

We are taking a number of steps to drive further growth, including exploring options with the Office for Students (OfS) to make up to £8 million available to higher education (HE) providers through the Strategic Priorities Grant. This will help providers to expand their current degree apprenticeship offers or develop new ones. Alongside this, the OfS is challenging HE providers to increase the proportion of degree apprentices they recruit, through refreshed access and participation plans.

In addition, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Further Education is reforming how degree apprenticeships are developed, approved and delivered so that they work better for apprentices and employers, and we are continuing to work with UCAS to capitalise on the excellent work it does to connect young people with a range of opportunities available to them when they are considering their next steps after school or college.

Taken together, these measures will ensure that more people benefit from the unique opportunities that degree apprenticeships offer to individuals, employers and the wider economy.