Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure students who are unable to complete apprenticeships are awarded their qualifications following the covid-19 outbreak.

Wherever possible, we want apprentices and employers to continue apprenticeships and complete end-point assessment. We have introduced flexibilities to mitigate the effects of disruption to assessment, training or employment caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

We are encouraging training providers to deliver training to apprentices remotely and via e-learning as far as is practicable. This includes furloughed apprentices who are able to continue with their apprenticeship training and end-point assessment. We are also allowing the modification of end-point assessment arrangements, including remote assessments wherever practicable and possible, to enable apprentices to successfully complete their apprenticeship. Apprentices who have been made redundant are also be able to complete their training and assessment in certain circumstances. Our intention is to safeguard the quality of apprenticeships, and we believe that end-point assessment is an important part of that.

Guidance setting out how the apprenticeship programme is responding to the impact of COVID-19 is available here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-apprenticeship-programme-response. We are keeping the guidance under review and will publish updates as the situation evolves.