Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of trends in the number of apprenticeship completions.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Since 2015 the department has transformed apprenticeships so that they are higher quality and better meet the needs of employers and individuals. The department has replaced apprenticeship frameworks with employer-designed apprenticeship standards which are more robust and harder to achieve, and raised the bar on duration, time to learn off the job and quality of assessment.
It is important that every apprentice gets the maximum value from their apprenticeship. and the department has focused its efforts on supporting apprentices to stay on their programme and achieve. The department is investing £7.5 million in a workforce development programme for teachers and trainers of apprentices. In addition, the department has increased the apprenticeship funding rate for English and mathematics by 54%, providing targeted support to employers and Ofsted are inspecting all apprenticeship providers by 2025.
The department is now seeing the positive impact of these actions. There were 162,320 achievements reported for the 2022/23 academic year, which represent the highest number since 2018/19, up 18.3% compared to the 2021/22 academic year. Furthermore, 37,400 people have achieved their apprenticeship so far this academic year, up by 22% compared to the same period last year.
On 21 March, the department will be publishing the apprenticeship national achievement rates for 2022/23 academic year as well as the latest data on the number of achievements so far this year. This will be accessible through the apprenticeships statistical publication found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to encourage young people to undertake a foundation apprenticeship on leaving school.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Apprenticeships offer brilliant opportunities for school leavers, with over 690 high-quality apprenticeship standards available across all sectors of the economy and at all levels, including 368 standards at levels 2 and 3. The department has a range of work underway to promote and support young people into apprenticeships, and it is encouraging to see that starts by under-19s so far this academic year have increased by 6% on the same period last year.
Students can now see apprenticeship vacancies on their UCAS Hub, and our Career Starter Apprenticeships campaign is promoting apprenticeships at levels 2 and 3 which offer great opportunities for those looking for their first role after leaving full-time education. The department also continues to invest around £3.2 million annually in the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme which ensures students are aware of the benefits of apprenticeships, with over 620,000 student interactions across 2,300 schools and further education colleges in the 2022/23 academic year.
In addition, the department continues to pay £1,000 to employers and providers when they take on apprentices aged 16-18, and the care leavers bursary has tripled to £3,000 to help even more young people to access and complete apprenticeships.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent steps her Department has taken to support care leavers move into (a) further and (b) tertiary education.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
In 'Stable Homes, Built on Love', the strategy for the reform of children’s social care, the department gave a commitment to improve the education, employment and training outcomes of children in care and care leavers by 2027. This can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/650966a322a783001343e844/Children_s_Social_Care_Stable_Homes__Built_on_Love_consultation_response.pdf.
The department set out a number of actions to take this forward, including:
In addition to the bursary, the department pays businesses and training providers £1,000 for every care leaver apprentice they employ or train. Employers and providers are free to use their additional funding wherever needed to support their apprentices, including contributions to travel or childcare costs, or the provision of additional mentoring.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of apprentices completed their endpoint assessment (a) on the date of, (b) one to three months after, (c) three to six months after and (d) more than six months after completing their apprenticeship in each academic year since 2016-17.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The attached table shows achievers, rounded to the nearest 100, on apprenticeship standards in each academic year since 2019/20. Data is unavailable for the preceding years as the achievement date was not collected as part of the department’s individual learner records prior to the 2019/20 academic year.
To note, achievements totals may not match published standards achievements totals as the attached table does not include those where an invalid achievement date was entered.
Asked by: Luke Evans (Conservative - Bosworth)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made on updating apprenticeship standards; and what representations she has received from business stakeholders on these standards.
Answered by Robert Halfon
This is a matter for the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. I have asked its Chief Executive, Jennifer Coupland, to write to the hon. Member for Bosworth, and a copy of this reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of apprentices completed their endpoint assessment (a) on the date of, (b) one to three months after, (c) three to six months after and (d) more than six months after completing their apprenticeship in the 2021-22 academic year.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The below table shows achievers (rounded to the nearest 100) on apprenticeship standards in the 2021/22 academic year.
Months from last learning to end of EPA | Achievements | Proportion of total (%) |
EPA within a month of last learning | 12,000 | 10.5% |
EPA 1-3 months after last learning | 76,300 | 66.3% |
EPA 3-6 months after last learning | 18,200 | 15.8% |
EPA more than 6 months after last learning | 8,600 | 7.5% |
Total | 115,100 | 100% |
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2024 to Question 11344 on Apprentices, for what reasons were there no apprenticeship starts in the two lowest funding bands in the 2022-23 academic year.
Answered by Robert Halfon
There are no apprenticeship standards that have funding bands of £1,500 and £2,000.
Asked by: George Howarth (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Attorney General, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2023 to Question 6413 on Government Legal Department, what the composition is of (a) her Department's Legal Advisers and (b) the Government Legal Department Litigation Group; and what (i) their legal qualifications and (ii) the professional standards to which they are required to adhere are.
Answered by Robert Courts - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)
The composition of the Ministry of Justice Legal Advisers Team, a division of the Government Legal Department (GLD), is as follows:
Description | Staff numbers |
Head of Division/Director (Senior Civil Service Pay Band 2) | 1 |
Deputy Director (Senior Civil Service Pay Band 1) | 6 |
Senior Lawyer (Grade 6) | 23 |
Lawyer (Grade 7) & Junior Lawyer (Legal Officer) | 37 |
Senior Executive Officer, Higher Executive Officer | 0 |
Legal Trainee, Executive Officer, Administrative Officer | 10 |
The composition of the GLD's Litigation Group is as follows:
Description | Staff numbers |
Head of Division/Director (Senior Civil Service Pay Band 2) | 1 |
Deputy Director (Senior Civil Service Pay Band 1) | 30 |
Senior Lawyer (Grade 6) | 136 |
Lawyer (Grade 7) & Junior Lawyer (Legal Officer) | 336 |
Senior Executive Officer, Higher Executive Officer | 51 |
Legal Trainee, Executive Officer, Administrative Officer | 203 |
These civil servants act on behalf of and in the name of the Treasury Solicitor, and pursuant to section 88 of the Solicitors Act 1974 are not required to be admitted or enrolled as a legal practitioner. They predominantly comprise of solicitors and barristers, the majority of which are admitted to practice in England and Wales, although some are qualified to practice in other jurisdictions.
The Costs Litigation Team includes qualified costs lawyers, in addition to which a small number of qualified legal executives are also employed in the Litigation Group. The balance of staff comprises legal trainees, apprentices, paralegals, and business support staff.
Qualified lawyers are required to adhere to the professional standards of their respective profession (solicitor, barrister, costs lawyer, or legal executive), and all staff are required to comply with the Civil Service Code.
Asked by: Baroness Blower (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is the average training cost of an (1) intermediate, (2) advanced, and (3) higher level, apprenticeship.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The table below shows the average cost of all apprentices who participated in learning across the 2022/23 academic year by level. This includes those who remain on programme, those who withdrew across the year, and those who completed their apprenticeship. Apprenticeships have a minimum 12-month duration and can last for a number of years. These figures cover all costs associated with these apprentices, including costs incurred in previous years and those incurred within the 2022/23 academic year. These figures include payments for apprenticeship training and assessment, as well as additional payments made to employers, providers, and apprentices, including for English and maths.
Level of Apprenticeship | Average Cost* |
2 | £4,600 |
3 | £6,000 |
4 | £5,600 |
5 | £5,000 |
6 | £10,800 |
7 | £9,000 |
*Numbers rounded to the nearest 100
Each apprenticeship standard has its own funding band, which denotes the maximum amount that the government will fund for training and assessment. The total cost of an apprenticeship will therefore vary by standard, duration, and eligibility for additional payments. Existing standards can have their funding bands reviewed, or be withdrawn for new starts, while new standards can be introduced. These figures are therefore a snapshot in time, subject to change in future and cannot be used to extrapolate future costs of apprenticeships.
Asked by: Baroness Garden of Frognal (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to encourage small businesses to engage in apprenticeship programmes aimed at delivering a skilled pipeline of electrical contractors into the workforce.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Apprenticeships provide a fantastic opportunity for people to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to progress into electrical occupations, and the department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25 to support employers of all sizes to grow their apprenticeships workforce.
The department’s employer-designed apprenticeship standards ensure that apprentices are gaining relevant industry experience to progress in over 690 different occupations, including in electrical occupations such as Level 3 domestic electrician, Level 4 building energy management systems controls engineer and Level 6 electro-mechanical engineer.
The department has made it easier for smaller employers to recruit the next generation of talent removing the limit on the number of apprentices they can take on and cutting by a third the number of steps needed to register to take on an apprentice. The department continues to fund 95% of the cost of apprenticeships in small employers who do not pay the levy and meet 100% of the cost for the smallest employers (fewer than 50 staff) when they take on eligible young apprentices. The levy transfer system has also been simplified so smaller employers can more easily benefit from transferred funds.