Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeship starts there were in Romford constituency in each year since 2010.

Our reforms have fundamentally changed what apprenticeships are and the long-term opportunities they provide. The minimum 20% off-the-job training rule, the shift to higher quality standards with a longer average duration and the drop-off in frameworks have already contributed to a 26% rise in average expected apprenticeship training hours over the past year.

The apprenticeship levy and funding arrangements are an important part of our changes to raise apprenticeship quality, supporting employers to make a long-term sustainable investment in training.

The profile of apprenticeship starts changed significantly prior to, and following, the introduction of our reforms; care should therefore be taken in comparing and interpreting this data.

The number of apprenticeship starts in the Romford parliamentary constituency in each academic year since 2005/06 is given in the attached table. Please note that the figures for 2018/19 are provisional and cover the period August 2018 to April 2019. Finalised figures for the 2018/19 academic year will be published in November 2019.

The Further Education data library contains additional breakdowns of apprenticeship starts, by characteristics such as age, level and sector subject area:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/fe-data-library-apprenticeships.