Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has plans to help promote the uptake of apprenticeships in areas with high levels of youth unemployment.

This government has a driving mission to break down barriers to opportunity and to grow the economy. Too many young people are struggling to access high-quality opportunities, and this government wants to ensure that more young people can undertake apprenticeships.

The department is developing new foundation apprenticeships to give more young people a foot in the door at the start of their working lives whilst supporting the pipeline of new talent that employers will need to drive economic growth. This signals an important step towards realising a Youth Guarantee, which brings together a range of existing and new entitlements and provision so that 18 to 21-year-olds can access training, an apprenticeship, or support to find work in England. The department and the Department for Work and Pensions are developing the Guarantee with mayoral authorities to provide local, tailored support and will work with local areas on future expansion.

The department is promoting apprenticeships to students in schools and colleges through the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme and targeting young people through the Skills for Life campaign. The department is also transforming career opportunities and advice to increase awareness of the range of high-quality options available to young people, including apprenticeships. The department has committed to improve careers advice and guarantee two weeks’ worth of work experience for every young person, as well as establish a national jobs and careers service to support people into work and help them get on at work.