Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Government's joint press release entitled UK life sciences attracts £3bn investment, creating jobs and faster patient treatments, published on 9 July 2026, what estimate he has made of the number of additional apprenticeship places required to support delivery of the Life Sciences Sector Jobs Plan.

The Life Sciences Sector Jobs Plan has been developed jointly with industry to address workforce shortages and their underlying causes, including skills gaps, retention, pay and job quality. The Government recognises the important role that apprenticeships play in developing the workforce needed by the life sciences sector. Life Sciences employers already make use of a range of high-quality apprenticeship standards to meet their skills needs, including in laboratory science, healthcare science and related technical occupations. Apprenticeships are only one of a range of routes that support the development of the future life sciences workforce, alongside other education, training and professional development pathways.

More broadly, the Government is committed to working with employers to ensure that the skills system responds to the needs of priority sectors, including life sciences, and to support employers to invest in the training and development of their workforce. Following the publication of the Life Sciences Jobs Plan, government and industry will work together to deliver the commitments laid out in the plan and assess the ongoing workforce and skills requirements within the sector.

In addition, this Government is transforming the Apprenticeships Levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy in England, backed by £1 billion of additional investment, which will support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, give employers greater flexibility to develop the workforce they need, and support the industrial strategy. From August we are fully funding apprenticeship training for 16-24-year-olds with non-levy paying employers (typically SMEs), and from October we are introducing a new hiring payment of £2,000 for non-levy payers which take on 16-24 year old apprentices as new employees.