Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that (a) school leavers and (b) adults with SEND are given prioritised access to apprenticeships.

Apprenticeships provide a fantastic opportunity for school leavers and adults with special educational needs and disabilities to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to progress in their chosen careers. So far, in the 2023/24 academic year, 15.9% of all starts were by learners declaring a learning difficulty and/or disability (LDD), an increase from 14.7% for the same period last year. The department is also increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25, supporting more employers across the country to recruit new apprentices.

The department is investing £3.2 million annually in the ‘Apprenticeship Support & Knowledge’ programme, which ensures students in schools and colleges are aware of the benefits of apprenticeships. Young people can also now access apprenticeships vacancies on UCAS, and later this year they will also be able to use the service to apply for apprenticeships.

The department provides £1,000 to both employers and training providers when they take on apprentices aged under 19, or 19 to 24 year old apprentices who have an Education, Health and Care plan or have been in care. The department also provides additional funding to support those apprentices who require reasonable adjustments to undertake learning.

As part of the work to remove barriers for people starting an apprenticeship, the department has launched a pilot to consider how the department determines apprentice eligibility for flexibilities to English and maths requirements. The department is also currently delivering another pilot to test whether offering expert support, advice and training to the people providing mentoring to apprentices with a LDD results in a positive impact on the cohort, both in terms of satisfaction and achievement for these apprentices.

The department will continue to work closely with the Apprenticeship Diversity Network and the Disabled Apprentice Network to better understand and remove barriers so everyone can access the benefits of an apprenticeship.