Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve the take-up of apprenticeships by women in construction, IT and engineering.

We are continuing to challenge perceptions of apprenticeships through our marketing and campaigns. We consider women within any marketing activities to ensure we promote strong female role models. The female apprentices in our ‘Get In Go Far’ marketing campaign work in a wide variety of sectors including print, software development and project engineering.

We are extending opportunity to all by encouraging more people, particularly girls, to study STEM subjects and take up apprenticeships in these sectors. We will be working with partners to encourage action, through apprenticeship ambassadors, STEM ambassadors and wider culture change to celebrate the value and excitement of engineering.