Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help improve access to apprenticeships in the North.

The department is committed to supporting more employers in all sectors, in all areas of the country, including in the North, to use apprenticeships to develop the skilled workforces they need. We are also committed to supporting more people to benefit from the high-quality training that apprenticeships offer.

Since August 2018, there has been a total of 422,100 apprenticeship starts across the North East, North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber.

To support more employers and learners to access apprenticeships the department is increasing funding for apprenticeships in England to £2.7 billion by 2024/25 financial year.

The department is also encouraging more flexible training models, such as front-loaded, accelerated and flexi-job apprenticeships, to make it easier for employers to access apprenticeship training in the way that works best for them.

The department continues to make improvements to the apprenticeship levy transfer system to make it easier for large employers to make full use of their levy funds and support starts in their supply chain, sector, or local area. This will also support more employers, including small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to meet local or sectoral skills needs.

We have launched a new SME pathfinder, that will support SMEs in the North East, North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber, who face barriers in recruiting apprentices to access the skills training they need to grow.

The department is raising awareness of the benefits of apprenticeships for learners through our ‘Skills for Life’ and ‘Get the Jump’ campaigns. In addition, our new ‘Career Starter Apprenticeships’ campaign showcases apprenticeship standards which offer great opportunities for those looking for their first role after leaving full-time education.