Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support young people into (a) apprenticeships and (b) training during the covid-19 pandemic.

Apprenticeships are a great way for young people to start their careers, giving them the opportunity to earn while they learn, and will be more important than ever in helping businesses to recruit the right people and develop the skills they need to recover and grow, both now and in the long-term. Through our ‘Plan for Jobs’ a total of £1.6 billion is to be invested in scaling up employment support schemes, training and apprenticeships, with a particular focus on young people.

We recognise that employers of all sizes currently face significant challenges. To help support employers to offer apprenticeships to young people, employers are now able to claim £2,000 for every new apprentice they hire under the age of 25, in recognition of the particular impacts of Covid-19 on the employment prospects of this group. This is in addition to the existing £1,000 payment we already provide for new 16-18-year-old apprentices and those aged under 25 with an Education, Health and Care Plan.

We are also making an additional £111 million available to triple the scale of traineeships in 2020-21, and have extended eligibility to include young people with level 3 qualifications, to ensure more young people have access to high-quality training. We have also announced £101 million for a brand new offer to give 18 and 19-year-old school and college leavers the opportunity to study high value Level 2 and 3 courses when there are not employment opportunities available to them.