Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the time being taken to agree apprenticeships for seafarer Ratings with the Maritime Trailblazer Working Group; and if he will make a statement.

The last meeting that took place between my Department’s Maritime Minister and the Department for Education’s Minister for Skills and Apprenticeships about apprenticeships was at the end of 2017 where a wide range of issues relating to apprenticeships, including maritime apprenticeships were discussed.

I am intending to meet with the Minister for Skills and Apprenticeships at the Department for Education to discuss apprenticeships again in the near future and my officials are in regular dialogue with the sector and the Institute for Apprenticeships about all issues relating to maritime apprenticeships.

I understand from officials that the Institute for Apprenticeships have recently implemented changes to the approval process intended to make it simpler and speedier and have set themselves a target of 12 months to get apprenticeships approved by.

The Government values apprenticeships as a route to obtaining the skills needed for the future workforce. The Department is also leading the Government’s Year of Engineering campaign, which is committed to boosting engineering skills across the UK.