Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress the Government has made on increasing the number of apprenticeships in the North West.

There have been 71,290 apprenticeship starts recorded to date (August 2016 to April 2017) in the North West in the 2016 to 2017 academic year.

Earlier years’ data for starts by region can be found in the apprenticeships FE data library:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/586183/apprenticeships-starts-by-geography-learner-demographics-and-sector-subject-area.xlsx

Data for apprenticeship participation by region is also available in the apprenticeships FE data library:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/624357/apprenticeships-participation-by-region-and-sector-subject-area.xlsx

More detailed geographical data on apprenticeship starts and achievements are available in the apprenticeships FE data library tools:

Starts: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/624428/apprenticeships-geography-data-tool-starts-v1.xlsm

Achievements: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/624585/apprenticeships-geography-data-tool-achievements-v1.xlsm