Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, with reference to the Professional and Business Services Jobs Plan, published on 19 October 2026, what arrangements are in place to ensure that participating employers provide clear progression routes from work experience into apprenticeships or sustained employment.

The Professional and Business Services Jobs Plan aims to strengthen pathways from education and work experience into apprenticeships and employment. Employers have committed to increase work-experience opportunities for under-25s by 20% and recruit 22,400 apprentices aged under 25 each year. The Plan will also strengthen links between employers and education providers, support the brokering of placements and mentoring, and improve alignment of employment and skills provision. These measures are intended to create clearer pathways into the sector, but do not require employers to provide progression from individual work-experience placements into apprenticeships or sustained employment. The Professional and Business Services Council will work with government to monitor delivery of these commitments through a shared performance framework.