Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effect that new funding rates to be implemented from May 2017 will have on the number of young people from low-income backgrounds undertaking an apprenticeship; and if she will make a statement.

We are committed to ensuring that apprenticeships are as accessible as possible to all people from all backgrounds. We are making available over £60million to support the undertaking of apprenticeships by individuals from disadvantaged areas. This funding is at least equivalent to that currently in the system and is expected to maintain levels of starts in these areas.

To support employers to offer more apprenticeships, under the apprenticeship funding policy published in October, we announced that Government will pay providers an additional payment for training an apprentice who lives in areas amongst the 27% most deprived: £600 for the 1-10% most deprived, £300 for the next 11-20%, and £200 for the next 21-27%. These payments will be in place for one year whilst we review the system for supporting people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Under the new funding policy, there will be extra payments for 16-18 year olds and 19-24 year olds formerly in care or with an Education, Health and Care Plan. Employers and providers will receive a payment of £1,000 to support additional costs associated with these apprentices.

We are increasing numbers of traineeships to further support young people, including those from areas of disadvantage, into apprenticeships and further work. In addition, on 25 October we published an equality analysis on the funding changes, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/562409/Equality_analysis_apprenticeship_funding_from_May_2017.pdf