Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that there is a sufficient number of providers to deliver end-point assessments for apprentices.

All end-point assessments must be carried out by an Independent Assessment Organisation on the Skills Funding Agency’s Register of Apprentice Assessment Organisations to ensure high quality assessment.

The assessment market has been adjusting rapidly for most new apprenticeship standards. 82% of all apprentice starts on standards have an end-point assessment organisation available to them, whether they are close to needing end-point assessment or not. This figure rises to 96% for apprentices likely to require an end-point assessment in 2017. There are a small number of standards that already have starts but where an Assessment Organisation has not yet been confirmed. Here, we are taking proactive action to resolve this and ensure there is end-point assessment provision by the time the apprentice completes their apprenticeship. This includes actively working with trailblazer groups and potential assessment organisations to fill gaps in provision and put contingencies in place.