Asked by: Lord Field of Birkenhead (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to promote rail apprenticeships in the North West of England.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
In 2016 DfT set ambitions through the Transport Infrastructure Skills Strategy to increase apprenticeships in road and rail bodies to help address skills shortages in the transport sector.
DfT works in collaboration with employers across the sector to create quality apprenticeships through an industry body, the Strategic Transport Apprenticeship Taskforce (STAT) to deliver these ambitions. Network Rail, HS2, the Rail Delivery Group, National Skills Academy for Rail and TfL are members of STAT. So far, over 5000 apprenticeships have been created in road and rail bodies.
Since 2017, the Department for Transport has used its procurement to drive apprenticeship numbers through contracts, including those within the rail industry.
Network Rail is committed to promoting its apprenticeship programmes, both in the North West and across the country. Network Rail reports that it has taken the following steps to promote its apprenticeships in the North West:
This engagement enables Network Rail to promote work experience opportunities, insight talks, career opportunities and skill sessions.
These opportunities are also promoted via digital advertising on social media platforms, job boards and at stations. Those who register their interest regarding apprenticeships can choose to be updated on new opportunities via text and email.
In 2017/18 Network Rail’s London North West Route exceeded the public-sector target of having 2.3% of their headcount as apprentice starts and had 196 apprentices in the last financial year.
Asked by: David Linden (Scottish National Party - Glasgow East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many apprentices are employed in his Department.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department for Transport currently employees 236 apprentices across our central department and four executive agencies. This figure is made up of apprentices who have been externally recruited and existing employees undertaking an apprenticeship.
This figure does not include apprentices employed by the Department waiting to start their apprenticeship.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2018 to Question 144194, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for apprentice travel.
Answered by Anne Milton
Both the department and my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, have regular dialogue with my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in support of meeting the government’s ambitions for high quality apprenticeships.
We do not want the cost of travel to deter people from starting an apprenticeship, including those in rural or disadvantaged areas. We are working with the Department for Transport to explore options on the practicality of implementing a travel scheme to enable young people to access apprenticeships. The Department for Transport has commissioned research to investigate possible options that could support apprentices travel costs - assessing schemes in the UK and elsewhere.
Asked by: Gordon Marsden (Labour - Blackpool South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to introduce significantly discounted bus and train travel for apprentices.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
As per the Conservative manifesto commitment, the Government is clear that it does not want the costs of travel to deter young people from undertaking apprenticeships or training opportunities. Industry is launching a consultation on changes to rail fares, and we look forward to learning through this process and working with industry on these results.
The Department is also exploring options for bus travel concessions for apprentices, and is gathering more evidence on the practicability of a number of options.
Asked by: Jack Lopresti (Conservative - Filton and Bradley Stoke)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what levels of apprenticeships are offered by his Department; and how many apprenticeship starts there were at each level in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
This response covers the Department for Transport – comprising the central Department and the four Executive Agencies.
We only hold the requested data for the last two financial years. Apprenticeship starts and levels are as follows:
| Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 and Higher |
April 2016 – March 2017 | 65 | 61 | 122 |
April 2017 – March 2018 | 38 | 71 | 16 |
This has been a transitional year for apprenticeships with the release of new apprenticeships standards ready for delivery, the implementation of the new apprenticeship funding regulations and the availability of the new Civil Service Learning Apprenticeship contract.
For the Department, the delay in the availability of new professional apprenticeships standards coupled with the delayed availability of the new Civil Service Learning apprenticeships contract made strategic workforce planning difficult this year. This was further impeded by changes to funding processes which resulted in projected starts for 2017/18 not materialising until after the end of the 2017/18 target period.
In addition, a decision by DVLA to refresh its workforce strategy led to a reduction of its internal apprenticeship start target (as based in Wales this did not affect the Department’s apprenticeship start target set by Cabinet Office).
Looking forward, several leadership and management apprenticeship cohorts are now in place across the Department, with a Department wide HR apprenticeship cohort planned to start in June. Should these cohorts prove successful, the department will look to embed these apprenticeships in future development programmes. The quality of apprenticeship delivery has been an issue but supplier management has been a key focus of the Department’s recent activity. Now that the wider Civil Service Learning apprenticeship provision is available, work is underway to further utilise apprenticeships to build capability and develop talent pipelines within the professions.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a 16-25 bus discount scheme similar to the 16-25 railcard.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department is supportive of concessions for 16-25 year olds. However, there are no plans at present to introduce a statutory national bus travel concession for all young people across England. Local authorities have the discretion to offer travel concessions to young people, funded from local resources. In addition, many operators offer discounted tickets on commercial basis.
The Conservative Manifesto contained a commitment to introduce discounted travel on buses for apprentices. My Department is currently exploring the best way of delivering this.
Asked by: Mike Kane (Labour - Wythenshawe and Sale East)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of the staff employed by his Department are apprentices.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
The Department (including Central Department and Executive Agencies) currently employs 230 apprentices which equates to 1.58% of the workforce.
This is based on apprenticeship data and Departmental headcount at end of February 2018. These figures are subject to constant change due to workforce movement and apprenticeship completion.
The Department has a number of apprenticeship starts in progress which will increase the numbers of apprentices once they have been signed up by learning providers, but they are not yet registered as apprentices.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on subsidising transport for apprentices; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is clear that it does not want the costs of travel to deter young people from undertaking an apprenticeship. The Department for Transport has started to explore options for bus travel concessions for apprentices, and is looking to gather more evidence on the practicability of a number of options. The Department will set out more information on this work in the New Year.
The rail industry has begun a trial of a railcard for people aged 26-30 in the Greater Anglia area. The industry has also announced that a railcard for 16-18 year olds will be trialled from spring 2018. The Department is taking a close interest in the trial and looks forward to learning more about the industry’s plans.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of introducing discounted train and bus travel for apprentices in (a) 2017-18, (b) 2018-19, (c) 2019-20, (d) 2020-21 and (e) 2021-22.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Department for Transport continues to explore the practicability of implementing such a scheme or schemes, which is likely to include an analysis of the costs involved.
Asked by: Angela Rayner (Labour - Ashton-under-Lyne)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his policy is on bus and train travel for apprentices.
Answered by Jesse Norman
The Government is implementing apprenticeship reforms to continue to improve the quality of apprenticeships for all, providing the skills that employers need to reach our commitment of 3 million starts in England by 2020. The Government has also expressed a desire that it does not want the costs of travel to deter young people, and so the Department (in discussion with the Department for Education) has started exploring options for travel for apprentices.