Shipping: Apprentices

(asked on 13th March 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 11 March 2020 to Question 25091, on Shipping: Apprentices, how many (a) deck, (b) engine and (c) catering rating apprentice starts there were in 2018-19; and, with reference to the UK Seafarer Projections 2016 commissioned by his Department, what comparative assessment he has made of the (i) current supply of newly trained ratings and (ii) projected demand from industry in each of the next four years.


Answered by
Kelly Tolhurst Portrait
Kelly Tolhurst
This question was answered on 19th March 2020

Apprenticeship policy is a matter for the Department for Education. The statistics for apprenticeship numbers are published online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships#apprenticeship-starts-and-achievements

The number of apprenticeship starts for ratings in 2018-19 were (a) 45

Deck (Able Seafarer) and (b) 125 Engine Room Rating. Maritime caterer was not approved in time to appear in the 2018-19 data. No comparative assessment has been made of the current supply or projected demand for ratings. However, there has been encouraging uptake in apprenticeships in the Maritime sector. Government data shows the number of starts on maritime apprenticeships more than doubled between 2014-15 and 2017-18.

My Department continues to work with industry to support maritime apprenticeships for both seafaring and shore-based roles.

Reticulating Splines