Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Aspire Achieve Advance apprentices were (a) affected by that provider ceasing trading and (b) have been found alternative provision.

In total, the closure of Aspire Achieve Advance has affected 4,216 apprentices. The apprentices were split between apprenticeships supported via levy funding and those supported via non-levy funding, based on the size of the employer involved. There were 2,384 apprentices with large levy paying employers and 1,832 apprentices with smaller non-levy paying employers.

It is the responsibility of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to source alternative high quality provision for the non-levy apprentices while employers retain the lead for sourcing alternative provision funded by the levy. They do this with the full support of the National Apprenticeship Service. So far, for the non-levy funded apprentices, the ESFA has approved 1,358 apprentice transfers to 125 high quality alternative providers.

Officials have also identified alternative, high quality provision for each of the remaining 410 apprentices and are contacting the providers involved to facilitate the transfers. 64 apprentices have notified us that they have successfully completed or withdrawn from their apprenticeship. Of the 2,384 apprentices funded by the levy, National Apprenticeship Service account managers are supporting those employers to identify new providers. To date levy paying employers have transferred 534 apprentices to new providers of their choice.