Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many End Point Assessment Organisations are currently approved to carry out assessments for level 7 standards; and how many of these are (1) higher education institutions, (2) other educational institutions, (3) independent training providers, (4) awarding bodies or subsidiaries of awarding bodies, and (5) organisations that do not fall into any of those categories.

For an organisation to deliver apprenticeship end-point assessments, they must be recognised by their external quality assurance regulator. For level 7 apprenticeship standards, this can be Ofqual, Office for Students, or in some cases, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

Once approved by the regulator, the end-point assessment organisation (EPAO) is required to be on the Apprenticeship Provider Assessment Register (APAR) so that they can be selected by the training provider, and be eligible for government funding.

Currently, there are 110 EPAOs listed on the APAR offering end-point assessment of level 7 apprenticeship standards. Of these, 64 are higher education institutions, 9 are other educational institutions, 9 are independent training providers, 11 are awarding bodies or subsidiaries of awarding bodies, and 17 are organisations that do not fall into any of those categories.