Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to support intermediate and advanced apprenticeships.

This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity. Meeting the skills needs of the next decade is central to delivering all of the government's five missions on economic growth, opportunity for all, a stronger NHS, safer streets, and clean energy. Through delivering the opportunity and growth missions, the department will ensure that we have the skilled workforce needed to deliver the national, regional and local skills needs.

There are over 360 apprenticeships at intermediate and advanced levels which are supporting people to train in occupations such as adult care worker, bricklayer or cyber security technician. A wide range of apprenticeships are also available at higher levels including data analyst, nuclear technician and registered nurse.

So far this academic year, between August and October 2024, there have been 132,560 apprenticeship starts across all levels; this is 1.3% higher than the same period in the previous year.

To support the development of skills at all levels, the government will reform the apprenticeships levy into a more flexible Growth and Skills levy that is aligned to the Industrial Strategy. This will create routes into good, skilled jobs in growing industries.

As a first step, flexibilities will include shorter duration and foundation apprenticeships in targeted sectors, helping more people learn new high quality skills at work, fuelling innovation in businesses across the country and providing high quality entry pathways for young people. The department will set out more detail on these plans in due course.