The allocation of funding from the UK-wide Apprenticeship Levy is the responsibility of the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland. The restoration of an Executive, as well as a fully functioning Assembly, is a key priority of the UK Government.

UCAS have recently expanded their service so students can easily see the different options open to them, including apprenticeships. Having apprenticeships showcased in this way boosts the profile of apprenticeships to school leavers and is a huge step forward in putting apprenticeships on an equal footing with traditional university degrees. Over 200 degree-level apprenticeship vacancies are currently being advertised on the UCAS website for people to consider.

This month the Department, in partnership with UCAS, will launch a pilot that aims to test different ways to connect even more students to apprenticeship opportunities. The pilot will run in 3 regions throughout the 2023/24 academic year – Lancashire, the North East and Greater London – engaging employers and providing students with access to additional support designed specifically for those interested in exploring and applying for apprenticeships alongside their other options (including undergraduate courses). The pilot will be followed by an evaluation in October 2024, including an assessment of the impact of having apprenticeship vacancies listed on the UCAS student hub. In 2024, students will be able to apply for apprenticeships through UCAS alongside an undergraduate degree application. The assessment of the impact of this will then follow at a later date.

We have seen year-on-year growth of degree-level apprenticeships with over 195,550 starts since their introduction in the 2014/15 academic year. To ensure that the supply of degree apprenticeship opportunities available meets demand, we are allocating an additional £40 million over the next two years, supporting degree apprenticeship providers to expand, on top of the £8 million investment in 2022/23.

Apprenticeships are crucial in driving growth and social mobility. They boost businesses skills and improve people’s earnings and progression opportunities. Since the 2019/20 academic year there have been 1.33 million (provisional) apprenticeship starts across England, and we want to see this number grow.

We are increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25, encouraging more employers across the country to recruit new apprentices. We have created flexible training models, such as flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, to make apprenticeships more accessible for employers, and improved the transfer system so that levy-payers can make better use of their funds. We are also making it easier for employers to hire apprentices, and the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education will review the content of 100 apprenticeship standards in sectors like construction and healthcare by the end of December 2023, so they reflect the latest technological developments.

To support more people to access degree apprenticeships, we are allocating an additional £40 million over the next two years, supporting degree apprenticeship providers to expand, and helping more people to access this provision, on top of the £8 million investment in 2022/23.

We continue to promote apprenticeships to young people in schools and further education colleges across the country through our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge programme, and UCAS will be expanding its service to allowing students to search for and apply to apprenticeships alongside degrees.

Apprenticeships provide a fantastic opportunity for people to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to progress in their chosen careers, and we want to ensure that the programme is flexible so that apprenticeships are widely accessible to all.

To support flexibility, we enable those working full-time, part-time and flexible hours to undertake apprenticeships, and apprentices can take short or extended breaks (for example for parental leave) during their programme. For those working in sectors with short-term and project-based employment models, we have created flexi-job apprenticeships, and those with significant prior learning and experience can undertake an accelerated apprenticeship and achieve occupational competence more quickly. We also provide additional funding to support those apprentices who require reasonable adjustments to undertake learning.

The department is committed to ensuring that apprentice pay supports the attraction and retention of talented individuals into apprenticeships.

We recognise that apprentices may be experiencing financial pressures because of rises in the cost of living. In November 2022, the government accepted, in full, the Low Pay Commission’s recommendation to increase the Apprentice National Minimum Wage by 9.7% to £5.28 from April 2023. This increase will help to counter the impact of rises in the cost of living, and the department continues to provide financial support to encourage more apprenticeship opportunities for all people.

Many employers choose to pay their apprentices more than the national minimum wage rates, recognising the value that apprentices bring to their workplace. Data shows that average hourly pay for apprentices’ ranges between £8.23 for Level 2 and £14.02 for Level 6.

We continue to make £1,000 payments to employers and providers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, and apprentices aged 19 to 24 that have an Education, Health and Care plan, which can be used to support costs such as wages, uniforms or travel. In addition, we increased our care leavers’ bursary from £1,000 to £3,000 in August 2023.

Apprenticeships provide a fantastic opportunity for people to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to progress in their chosen careers. Our employer-designed apprenticeship standards ensure that apprentices are gaining relevant industry experience in 680 different occupations.

We know apprenticeships continue to work for individuals up and down the country, with the latest data showing that 92% of apprentices go into work or further training, with 90% in sustained employment. Many apprentices remain with their employer following their apprenticeship.

Earnings for those undertaking higher apprenticeships compare well to the earnings of first-degree graduates five years on. Data shows that the median first-degree graduate earnings, five years after graduation were £28,200 compared to £30,900 for level 4 apprentices and £28,310 for level 5+ apprentices.

We want to see more young people benefitting from apprenticeships. We are increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year and continue to pay £1,000 to employers and providers when they hire young apprentices aged under 19, or 19-to-24-year-old apprentices who have an Education, Health and Care plan or have been in care. From 2024, young people will also be able to apply for apprenticeships through UCAS alongside an undergraduate degree application, and we are allocating an additional £40 million over the next two years to support the expansion of degree apprenticeships which offer high-quality higher education alternatives for school leavers.

The apprenticeship levy enables large employers to access up to 110% of their levy contributions for high-quality apprenticeships, which can equip them with the skills they need to develop and grow their workforce. It also enables the government to fund 95% of the cost of apprenticeships in small employers who do not pay the levy.

We are increasing apprenticeship funding in England to £2.7 billion by 2024/25, which will support even more people to access apprenticeships, and we have introduced flexi-job apprenticeships, making it easier for apprentices to complete their training across different projects.

We are working across government and in partnership with the construction industry, through the Construction Skills Delivery Group, to ensure apprenticeships meet the needs of employers in the sector. In 2021/22 there were over 26,000 apprenticeships starts in Construction, Planning and the Built Environment sector, an increase of 31% from 2020/21.

Employers have developed 97 standards in the Construction and the Built Environment sector including Level 2 bricklayer, Level 3 craft carpentry and joinery and the Level 6 chartered surveyor degree apprenticeships. A new version of the bricklayer standard also went live in August 2023, with funding increased by 40%, and we have increased funding for the scaffolder apprenticeship by over 20%.

We have made it easier for SMEs in construction to recruit the next generation of talent by removing the limit on the number of apprentices they can take on. We also meet 100% of the cost for the smallest employers (fewer than 50 staff) when they take on young apprentices and have simplified our levy transfer system so SMEs can more easily benefit from transferred funds.

There were more than 335,000 starts in the 2022-23 academic year and more people undertaking high-level apprenticeships, with starts at level 4 and above increasing by 7%. Those are provisional figures; further figures will be set out in November. We are increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024-25.

What assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of apprenticeship starts in the 2022-23 academic year.

I say to the hon. Gentleman, whom I respect enormously, that 70% of apprentices are at level 2 or 3. I hoped that he would be getting up to celebrate the 10,130 apprenticeship starts in Birmingham, Selly Oak since May 2010.

I thank the Minister for that answer, but given the decline in level 2 and 3 apprenticeship starts, might it be an idea to consider the views of leading industry experts who are calling for the ringfencing of apprenticeships for 16 to 18-year-olds?

Apprenticeship achievement rates for the 2022/23 academic year will be published in the Apprenticeships and traineeships: March 2024 statistics publication: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/announcements/apprenticeships-and-traineeships-march-2024.

The most recent statistics on apprenticeship starts by enterprise size cover the 2012/13 to 2020/21 academic years, and are published on Explore Education Statistics at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics.

Data for 2021/22 and 2022/23 will be published in June 2024 and June 2025, respectively.

The Department is committed to ensuring that the transport workforce better reflects our diverse society. As part of the ongoing work with the Transport Employment and Skills Taskforce, the Department has been working with a range of stakeholders leading on the skills and employment agenda, which includes Apprenticeships. The Department has also included requirements for Passenger Services rail operators including OLR Operators to recruit Apprentices.

The Train Operators have confirmed as follows:

LNER’s apprenticeship data is based on the Apprenticeship Service Status:

​​Apprenticeships offer a high-quality and popular route into over 680 occupations, from entry level to expert roles.

​The below table shows the number of apprenticeship vacancies advertised on the Find An Apprenticeship (FAA) service in each of the last five academic years.

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​669,450 applications were submitted through FAA in the 2022/23 academic year, and 681,090 applications were submitted in 2021/22. Due to the data protection policy in place prior to 2021/22, the department does not hold an accurate record of the number of applications submitted between 2018/19 and 2020/21.

​Employers can choose to advertise apprenticeship vacancies through their own websites, recruitment agencies, or local job centre, instead of, or in addition to FAA. As a result the actual number of apprenticeship vacancies and applications will be higher.

​The department is encouraged to see consistent and strong demand for apprenticeships, and are committed to supporting more employers and individuals to benefit from the high-quality training that apprenticeships offer.

​Flexible training models have been created, like flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, to make apprenticeships accessible for all sectors, and have developed career starter standards to attract more young people to apprenticeships.

​The department is also providing an additional £40 million over the next two years to support degree apprenticeship providers to expand and help more people access this provision, on top of our £8 million investment in 2022/23.​

The government pays employers and training providers £1,000 each for taking on an apprentice who is either aged 16 to 18 years old, or aged between 19 and 24 years old and has an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan or has been in the care of their local authority. They can spend it on any costs associated with supporting an apprentice in the workplace. For example, on uniforms, the apprentice’s travel or their salary.

The table below provides a breakdown of total spend on these payments by the department for the 2021/22 academic year to both employers and training providers, and for apprentices aged 16 to 18 years old and those aged 19 and above. The latter will include spend on apprentices who have either an EHC Plan provided by their local authority or who have been in the care of a local authority. The department does not capture whether the apprentice is a care leaver or has an EHC Plan for funding purposes.

*Figures are rounded to the nearest million.

Full data for the 2022/23 academic year is not yet available, providers will submit their final returns in October 2023.

The government has tripled the care leavers bursary for apprentices under the age of 25 from £1,000 to £3,000, supporting more people from all backgrounds to undertake apprenticeships. This is on top of the £1,000 available to both their employer and training provider, making a total of £5,000 additional funding available for every care leaver apprentice.

Since 2010, there have been over 5.5 million apprenticeship starts. During that time, we have built a new skills system from the ground up which includes introducing new apprenticeship standards that better meet the needs of employers and apprentices today. There are now over 680 apprenticeships available from entry level right through to masters level, with over 5,000 employers involved in their development.

The government has introduced world class skills opportunities benefitting people whatever age or stage of life. Individuals now have more vocational training options than ever before with the introduction of T Levels, Higher Technical Qualifications, skills bootcamps and high quality apprenticeships. As well as being dependant on individuals choosing to undertake an apprenticeship, demand for apprenticeships is also dependent on employers choosing to offer new apprenticeship opportunities.

There have been 316,940 apprenticeship starts during the first eleven months of the 2022/23 academic year between August 2022 and June 2023, compared to 328,780 reported at the same point in the previous academic year. The department expects to publish full final year data in November 2023 at the following web-address: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships/2022-23.

It is important to note that in 2021/22, the last full academic year for which data is available, apprenticeship starts were 8.6% higher than in 2020/21.

The apprenticeships budget in England is used to fund the training and assessment of new apprenticeship starts for all employers of all sizes, both those who pay the levy and those who do not. The budget is also used to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training and any additional payments made to employers, providers and apprentices.

The annual apprenticeship budget is set by His Majesty’s Treasury. The table below shows the department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget for the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years. The budget is not set on an academic year basis.