Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that teachers are adequately trained to advise students on the benefits of apprenticeships.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) provides a programme in schools and further education colleges across England called the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge for Schools (ASK) Programme, which provides a face-to-face and or digital services incorporating advice, information and continuous professional development resources for teachers.

This service has been provided for students in years 10 to 13 since 2016 and will be extended to provide for students in years 7 to 9 for the 2019/20 academic year. In conjunction with this, we will seek feedback from teachers to inform our review of the content of the ASK programme to ensure that delivery is progressive throughout each school year.

To complement this work, the ESFA also have developed Amazing Apprenticeships which is a resource portal for schools, colleges and those providing advice and guidance on apprenticeships. The site contains a wealth of useful resources that are downloadable and free of charge and includes a facility for schools to book a visit from a young apprenticeship ambassador or an ASK provider.

Every school and college must have a Careers Leader who co-ordinates their institution's careers provision and is responsible and accountable for the delivery of their school or college careers programme.