Apprenticeships provide people with a unique opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills needed to start, enhance, or change careers. The department currently offers high-quality apprenticeship routes into more than 660 occupations and is providing £2.7 billion of funding by the 2024/25 financial year to support employers to take up these opportunities. In the 2021/22 academic year, 349,000 people started an apprenticeship, and of these, 271,600 were aged 19 or over. In addition, 92% of apprentices go into further work or training, with 90% in sustained employment upon completion of their programme.

We provide additional financial support for employers and training providers who take on apprentices aged under 19, those aged 19 to 24 who have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, and those who have been in care. In each case, the employer and provider receive a payment of £1,000 to help meet the cost of additional support that these apprentices may require. For those apprentices under the age of 25 who have been in local authority care, they are entitled to a care leavers bursary of £1,000, which will rise to £3,000 from 1 August 2023.

The department is taking a range of actions to encourage uptake of apprenticeships among adults. This includes UCAS expanding their service from this autumn so that those exploring higher education routes can see more personalised options, including degree apprenticeships. From 2024, students will then be able to apply for apprenticeships alongside degrees.

In addition, we are promoting apprenticeships to older adults looking to return to the labour market or to retrain. These opportunities, called returnerships, bring together apprenticeships, skills bootcamps, and sector-based work academies. Returnerships will raise awareness of these pathways, providing a clear route back into work and encouraging employers to hire older workers.

In the 2023/24 financial year, funding available for apprenticeships in England is £2.58 billion.

Funding for new apprenticeship starts is not allocated to training providers, individual areas, or by age. Rather, employers of all sizes across England can access funding to offer high-quality apprenticeships to help meet their skills needs.

The government is unable to provide a breakdown of apprenticeship spending by region as it does not publish this data.

My right hon. Friends, the Secretary of State for Education and the Chancellor of the Exchequer meet regularly to discuss how skills can contribute to economic growth.

The government is clear that employers have a key role to play in the skills system, and it is important for supporting the country’s productivity and addressing skills gaps that employers invest in skills training.

The government is taking steps to build a skills system that is employer focused, high-quality, and fit for the future, so that skills training is aligned to the needs of employers. The department is embedding employer-led apprenticeship standards, driving qualification reform to ensure technical qualifications are high-quality and establishing employer-led Local Skills Improvement Plans. These reforms intend to give employers a greater role in the skills system so that they can invest in skills training with confidence.

The department is committed to ensuring that apprenticeships play a key part of the skills landscape, providing employers with the skilled workforce they need for the future.

The Apprenticeship Levy supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training and has supported us to grow investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25. The government does not currently have any plans to review the Apprenticeship Levy.

The department continues to take steps to improve the apprenticeships system for employers and apprentices. We have made apprenticeships more accessible for all sectors through the development of flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, and we are working with providers to simplify the apprenticeship system through our 'You said, we did' programme. The department has also outlined plans to improve apprenticeships quality, with an ambition for 67% of apprentices completing their apprenticeships by 2024/25.

Employers have designed over 155 high-quality degree level apprenticeship standards to support them to develop the skilled workforces they need. The department is working to expand these opportunities, so they are accessible to people across England, including in Solihull.

The department is making up to £8 million available in the 2022/23 financial year to higher education institutions through the Strategic Priorities Grant to enable them to grow provision and form new employer partnerships.

The department is promoting apprenticeships at all levels, including degree level, to young people through the Apprenticeship Support & Knowledge (ASK) programme. ASK ensures students across England are aware of the benefits of apprenticeships. From this autumn, UCAS will expand their service so that young people can see more personalised options, including apprenticeships. From 2024, students will be able to apply for apprenticeships through UCAS alongside an undergraduate degree application. This means thousands of more young people will benefit from a wider choice of high-quality options, and employers can benefit from better access to talent on UCAS.

The department has worked with employers across the country to help them showcase higher and degree level apprenticeship vacancies. During National Apprenticeship Week, we published a listing featuring hundreds of vacancies that are available for people to apply for now, including in the West Midlands. This listing is available at: https://amazingapprenticeships.com/app/uploads/2022/11/Higher-Degree-Listing-FEB-2023.pdf.

The department is delivering reforms to improve higher technical education, including by investing £300 million to establish 21 Institutes of Technology (IoT) across the country. IoTs are collaborations between employers, colleges and universities that focus on the higher level science, technology, engineering and mathematics skill needs of employers and learners. The department used £9 million of the capital funding to support the creation of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull IoT. This IoT opened in 2020 and delivers higher technical education in the advanced manufacturing and engineering sectors.

The department has introduced Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs). HTQs are level 4 to 5 qualifications providing the skills demanded in the workplace by employers. Solihull College & University Centre, as part of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull IoT, received funding through the Higher Technical Education Growth Fund in 2022 to support the rollout of HTQs.

The department is also introducing T Levels at Level 3, which provide a high quality route into Higher Technical Education. Solihull College and University Centre offer T Levels in Digital, and Solihull Sixth Form College will offer T Levels in Education and Childcare from September this year.