Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many 18 to 24 year olds started a course at (1) Level 4 and (2) Level 5, qualification level in each year from 2010 until 2019.
Research published by both the department and Gatsby Foundation provides a full mapping of level 4 and 5 technical education. This research is available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/913988/L4-5_market_study.pdf and http://www.gatsby.org.uk/uploads/education/reports/pdf/mapping-the-higher-technical-landscape-final-version.pdf respectively.
The latter showed that in the 2015/16 academic year, approximately 87,000 learners aged 24 or under were studying at level 4 or 5 in England.
The department collects and publishes data separately on regulated further and higher education, which includes learning at level 4 and 5. The department is investigating whether these data collections could be combined to produce a more comprehensive data series for learners starting level 4 and 5 qualifications.
Further education and apprenticeships data are published by the department, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/further-education-and-skills-statistical-first-release-sfr.
Statistics on students at higher education providers by specific qualification aim are published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Latest figures refer to the 2014/15 to 2018/19 academic years and are available here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/16-01-2020/sb255-higher-education-student-statistics.
Statistics for earlier years are available here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/statistical-first-releases?date_filter%5Bvalue%5D%5Byear%5D=&topic%5B%5D=4.