Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what progress her Department is making on meeting the 2.3 per cent public sector apprenticeship target; and when her Department will meet that target.
Answered by Greg Hands
As of 31 March 2020, the Civil Service in England has achieved an average of 2.1% of its total workforce as apprenticeship-starts through the qualifying period against the legisla-tive target to achieve an average of 2.3% across the financial years 2017/18 to 2020/21. According to Cabinet Office statistics, the Department for International Trade, including UK Export Finance, has achieved 3.5% of its total workforce in England as apprentice-ship-starts in 2019/20, up from 1.1% in 2018/19.
We have plans in place to achieve our legislative target by the end of March 2021. DIT offers a range of apprenticeships across different disciplines to build both individual and departmental professional capability. The department continues to include apprenticeships as part of its workforce planning to ensure it maintains performance against the 2.3% target. The data for 2018/19 can be found here and the data for 2019/20 is here.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps her Department is taking to reach the public sector apprenticeship target.
Answered by Greg Hands
The Department for International Trade (DIT) is committed to building a diverse, inclusive and expert department. Apprenticeships play an important role in delivering that commitment and helping our employees to achieve their full potential.
DIT offers a range of apprenticeships across different disciplines to build both individual and departmental professional capability. This year, we exceeded our Civil Service target (of 51) with 57 new apprenticeship starts.
We have achieved this by:
Putting in place good quality apprenticeships that reflect DIT priorities and with the right level of support for participants.
Offering (where appropriate) an apprenticeship qualification when recruiting to some entry-level roles externally.
Targeting key capability priorities within our current workforce, giving them additional opportunities to retrain and up-skill.
We intend to maintain this and have every confidence that we will achieve the target of 2.3% by March 2021 as part of the Civil Service.
Asked by: Robert Halfon (Conservative - Harlow)
Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what estimate she has made of the total amount of funding from the public purse given by her Department to (a) civil society and (b) campaigning bodies in each of the last five years.
Answered by Conor Burns
The Department for International Trade (DIT) came to existence in July 2016. DIT secures UK and global prosperity by promoting and financing international trade and investment, and championing free trade. The Department does not specifically record this type of funding in its accounting records, and a search of other records has not identified any funding of civil society or campaign groups in this time period.