Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to allow awarding organisations to enable work from apprentices to be accepted as evidence by video capture and witness testimonials for the next six months during the covid-19 outbreak.

We have developed guidance with the sector to support all parts of the apprenticeship system, which is consistent with advice issued by Public Health England. Guidance issued on 23 March sets out how we are responding to the impact of Covid-19 on the apprenticeship programme. It can be found at:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-apprenticeship-programme-response.

We are keeping the guidance under active review and will publish updates as the situation evolves.

The authority to change assessment methods sits with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE). IfATE issued guidance on 23 March about the range of temporary flexibilities being introduced to end-point assessment: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/response-to-covid-19/.

IfATE are working closely with external quality assurance providers and end-point assessment organisations to make adjustments to assessment plans, including remote assessment wherever possible, whilst maintaining the integrity of the apprenticeship. Some assessment methods can be carried out remotely but these will need to be checked for each apprenticeship standard to take account of specific occupational requirements. Adjustments will need to be logged with relevant external quality assurance providers.