Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to promote (a) vocational qualifications and (b) apprenticeships to students and young people.

We are introducing T levels, a high-quality technical alternative to A levels to help young people get the high-wage, high-skill jobs of the future. With longer teaching hours, higher standards and a meaningful industry placement, T levels will be more rigorous and occupationally relevant than many current vocational courses.

Alongside the introduction of T levels, we are reviewing post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below. The aim is to ensure that qualifications are necessary, have a distinct purpose, are high- quality and support progression.

Apprenticeships are a high-quality alternative path to a career for people of all ages and we are improving the quality of apprenticeships through making them longer, better, with more off-the job training and proper assessment at the end.

We have established 4 National Colleges, which are leading the way in the design and delivery of higher technical skills training, ensuring that industries and sectors which are critical to our national economic growth, have the skills they need.

We are investing up to £290 million of capital funding to enable every region in England to establish a high quality Institute of Technology. With state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, and employers in the driving seat, they will give businesses the skilled workforce they need to drive growth and productivity and get more people into rewarding jobs.

It is important that students and young people have access to high-quality information and advice about their choices, including technical options and apprenticeships.

In 2017 we introduced a new Careers Strategy, setting out a long-term plan to build a world class careers system that will help young people and adults choose the career that’s right for them. An important element of the strategy is the responsibility that schools and colleges must provide their students with a full picture of their options. This includes a new law introduced in January 2018, under which schools must allow technical education and apprenticeship providers into their schools to talk to pupils about their offer.

We have also undertaken a range of activities to make students and young people aware of the benefits an apprenticeship can offer. Our apprenticeships campaign, Fire It Up, is working to promote apprenticeships to young people, demonstrating that they are an aspirational choice for anyone with passion and energy.

We are also working with schools to promote apprenticeships to students. We have developed Amazing Apprenticeships, a website and resource portal for schools and teachers. In addition, we offer a free service to schools through the Apprenticeship Support and Knowledge (ASK) project to ensure that teachers have the knowledge and support to enable them to promote apprenticeships to their students. Last academic year the ASK programme reached over 300,000 students across 2,368 establishments and from September 2019 it has been extended to include years 7 to 9.