Apprentices: Shipping

(asked on 8th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to guarantee maritime apprenticeships in (a) Hull and (b) Dover as a result of plans by P&O Ferries to make seafarer redundancies on ferries working from those ports.


Answered by
Gillian Keegan Portrait
Gillian Keegan
Secretary of State for Education
This question was answered on 15th June 2020

We have introduced a broad range of flexibilities, including encouraging the remote delivery of apprenticeships, to ensure that apprentices can continue with their learning as far as possible and to support the continued take-up of apprenticeships: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-apprenticeship-programme-response/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-for-apprentices-employers-training-providers-end-point-assessment-organisations-and-external-quality-assurance-pro.

Apprenticeships will have an important role to play in creating employment opportunities, particularly for young people, and in supporting employers in all sectors to access the skilled workforce that they need to recover and grow, following the COVID-19 outbreak. Apprenticeship standards available in the maritime sector include Able Seafarer (Deck) and Marine Pilot.

We are looking to support employers of all sizes, and particularly small businesses, and in all sectors, including the maritime sector, to take on new apprentices this year. We will set out further details in due course. We will also ensure that there is sufficient funding to support small businesses that want to take on an apprentice this year.

A substantial package of support for businesses, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/coronavirus-job-retention-scheme), is available to enable people to remain in employment and reduce redundancies. Where redundancies are made, we will endeavour to provide comprehensive and practical support to ensure that apprenticeships can continue. We have launched a new hub for apprentices that offers guidance and information to support apprentices that may be, or are being, made redundant: https://help.apprenticeships.education.gov.uk/hc/en-gb/sections/360003798540-Apprentice. We will continue to review how best to support these apprentices as part of the wider economic recovery.

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