Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to promote degree apprenticeships among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Higher and degree level apprenticeships provide people with high-quality training and are important in supporting productivity, social mobility and widening participation in higher education and employment. The department wants more people from disadvantaged backgrounds to benefit from apprenticeships at all levels.

We are working to expand higher and degree level apprenticeships, ensuring these opportunities are accessible to young people. We are 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.

We continue to increase outreach to students of all backgrounds through our Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) programme. The ASK programme, funded at £3.2 million per year, provides schools and further education colleges across England with a free bespoke package of comprehensive information and support about apprenticeships. Ensuring that students of all backgrounds are aware of the benefits of apprenticeships, including degree apprenticeships.

From 2016/17 to the 2020/21 academic year, the ASK programme has worked with 5,000 schools and over 47,500 teachers, reaching over 1.7 million students, and over 230,000 parents.

The department works with employers to showcase higher and degree level apprenticeship vacancies on: https://www.findapprenticeship.service.gov.uk/apprenticeshipsearch?_ga=2.221953688.101986520.1673884878-1700691710.1661351144.

The listing published in November featured over 300 vacancies across the country from over 60 employers. These vacancies are promoted in schools and colleges through the ASK programme.

We are working with the Office for Students to improve access to and participation in Higher Education. We are also working with UCAS to establish the needs of young people, the people who influence their career decisions, and employers to determine how our respective systems and services can be improved so that more young people consider and secure apprenticeships.