Apprentices: Coronavirus

(asked on 20th April 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to provide financial support for apprenticeships delivered by independent training providers following the covid-19 outbreak .


Answered by
Gillian Keegan Portrait
Gillian Keegan
Secretary of State for Education
This question was answered on 29th April 2020

As my right hon. Friends the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have both made clear, the government will do whatever it takes to support people affected by COVID-19.

We recognise the financial impact on training providers, and have been regularly liaising with the sector and working to make changes where we can. On 24 April 2020, we published details of a provider relief scheme that will offer targeted financial support for training providers. This is designed to retain capacity within the apprenticeships and adult education sector to deliver the skills we need to support economic recovery. As part of that, we want to maintain support for existing learners and employers and enable new learners to enrol. Full details of the scheme are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/esfa-post-16-provider-relief-scheme.

This is in addition to the series of wider measures to support employers and employees set out by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 3 April. Details are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/financial-support-for-businesses-during-coronavirus-covid-19.

The full range of our latest guidance and advice for all educational settings can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-schools-and-other-educational-settings.

These are rapidly developing circumstances and we will continue to keep the situation under review and to keep Parliament updated accordingly.

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