Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many apprentices were employed by (a) Network Rail, (b) Highways England or the Highways Agency and (c) HS2 Ltd on 15 March in each year from 2010 to 2016.

The numbers of apprentices employed directly by Network Rail, Highways England or the Highways Agency, and HS2 Ltd. over the requested time period are set out below.

* For HS2 Ltd, the majority of employment and apprenticeship opportunities will be provided through the supply chain. Construction is due to begin in 2017, following Royal Assent.

**plus a further 150 to start in September 2016 at level 3, and upwards of 100+ across other levels 2 to 7

Looking forward over this Parliament to 2020, the Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy (January 2016) sets out our ambition to create 30,000 apprenticeships in the roads and rail sectors by 2020, in support of this government’s unprecedented investment in transport infrastructure.

This target includes the Department for Transport, its Agencies and infrastructure client bodies – Crossrail, Transport for London, Highways England Network Rail and HS2 Ltd, as well as each of their supply chains. Depending on the contract, suppliers will either create one apprenticeship for every £3 to £5m of taxpayers’ money spent, or increase the number of apprentices employed each year through the lifetime of the contract. In these cases the aim is that the number of apprenticeships created each year will equal 2.5% of the workforce.