Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to enhance information on career opportunities for students considering project management degree apprenticeships, particularly given the needs arising from the net zero and levelling up agendas.

Employers have designed over 155 high-quality degree level apprenticeship standards, including in project management, to support the development of the skilled workforces they need. In the 2021/22 academic year, there were 590 starts on the Level 6 Project Manager degree apprenticeship, up from 140 starts in the 2018/19 academic year.

The department would like to see even more people benefit from the high-quality career opportunities that degree level apprenticeships provide and are taking steps to ensure that young people can access these opportunities more easily.

In addition to the department's Find an Apprenticeship service, which allows people to search and apply for apprenticeship vacancies, the department continues to work with employers to produce the biannual higher and degree level apprenticeship vacancy listing. The latest listing, published during National Apprenticeship Week, features over 300 vacancies across the country that are available to apply to in 2023. These vacancies are also being promoted to students through our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme.

The ASK programme provides free resources in schools and colleges to ensure that students, parents, and teachers are aware of apprenticeships – including degree apprenticeships. The programme is supported by £3.2 million of funding per year and has worked with 5,000 schools, reaching over 1.7 million students and over 230,000 parents.

UCAS is also expanding its apprenticeships service, so that young people can see relevant apprenticeship vacancies on the UCAS hub, including degree apprenticeships. They are also working with the department to ensure that from 2024, students will be able to apply for apprenticeships alongside an undergraduate degree application. This means thousands more young people will benefit from a wider choice of high-quality options, and employers can benefit from better access to talent on UCAS.