Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage the uptake of apprenticeships in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) Greater London.

Apprenticeships provide people with the opportunity to earn and learn the skills needed to start an exciting career in a wide range of industries, and we want more people to benefit from high-quality apprenticeships. Since May 2010, there have been 6,900 apprenticeship starts in Enfield North constituency, 18,730 in the London Borough of Enfield and 462,650 in London.

Funding for apprenticeships in England will grow to £2.7 billion by the 2024-25 financial year to support apprenticeships in all employers, including employers that do not pay the levy who will continue to be able to reserve funding for 95% of apprenticeship training and assessment costs.

We are supporting employers to offer new apprenticeship opportunities by extending the higher incentive payment of £3,000 for every new apprentice hired between 1 October 2021 and 31 January 2022, as part of the government's Plan for Jobs. We have seen over 125,000 incentive payments claimed by employers so far (as of 10 November 2021). We also continue to improve apprenticeships by making them more flexible for employers, and by making it easier for employers to make full use of their levy funds.

To encourage more young people to consider apprenticeships, we are promoting apprenticeships at schools in Enfield and London through our Apprenticeship Support & Knowledge programme. This free service providers resources and interventions to help better educate young people about apprenticeships.