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Written question asked by Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench) on Monday, 23 February 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 9 March 2026. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Monday, 16 March 2026 on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions.

Apprentices

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people started apprenticeships in (1) 2015, (2) 2017, (3) 2022, and (4) 2024 in the apprenticeship standards of (a) engineering operative, (b) maintenance and operations engineering technician, (c) engineering technician, (d) hairdressing professional, (e) advanced and creative hairdressing professional, (f) creative, hair and fashion director, and (g) hair, skin and scalp specialist.

Answer

Apprenticeship starts for individual apprenticeship standards are published in the Apprenticeships accredited official statistics publication:

Starts

2020/21

2021/22

2022/23

2023/24

2024/25

Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies

Maintenance and Operations Engineering Technician (ST0154)

1,080

1,510

1,900

2,050

2,220

Engineering Operative (ST0537)

1,090

1,460

1,500

1,800

1,850

Engineering Technician (ST0457)

5,040

5,660

6,030

5,490

4,120

Retail and Commercial Enterprise

Advanced and Creative Hair Professional (ST0214)

810

1,220

1,040

1,120

870

Hairdressing Professional (ST0213)

5,650

5,770

4,630

5,230

4,050

Starts

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

Total

Maintenance and Operations Engineering Technician

30

910

1,020

1,090

Engineering Operative

no data

no data

140

480

Engineering Technician

600

3,080

4,310

4,770

Advanced and Creative Hair Professional

no data

no data

no data

30

Hair Professional

640

6,220

6,700

5,330

Please note that there were no apprenticeship starts on these standards prior to 2016/17. The Hairdressing Professional (ST0213) standard was previously named Hair Professional. No standards exist for (f) and (g).

The typical duration from apprenticeship start date to apprenticeship gateway and the maximum funding available for standards (a) to (e) are in the below table. This information is published at Apprenticeship search / Skills England.

Standard Name

Typical Duration (months)

Maximum funding 2022

Maximum funding 2025

Advanced and creative hair professional

12

£5,000

£5,000

Engineering operative

12

£6,000

£10,000

Engineering technician

42

£26,000

£26,000

Hairdressing professional

24

£7,000

£11,000

Maintenance and operations engineering technician

36

£26,000

£26,000

Please note that as the listed standards were not approved until after 2015, the maximum funding available for this year is not available.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL14802
Session
2024-26
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Apprentices
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk