Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many end-point assessment centres there are to provide gateway to end-point assessments for the Trailblazer programme.

There are 76 apprentice assessment organisations. They are approved to deliver the end-point assessment for 124 apprenticeship standards.

The register of apprentice assessment organisations is a list of organisations that have been assessed as being suitable to conduct independent end-point assessment of apprentices and are in receipt of public funds. Individual organisations may be listed for more than one standard. Only these organisations are eligible to conduct independent end-point assessment of apprentices.

The register is regularly updated as more organisations successfully apply and can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/using-the-register-of-apprentice-assessment-organisations.

Recruitment of assessors is an ongoing process, which we have been supporting through the Future Apprenticeships programme.

The employer, in consultation with the training provider, must be satisfied that the apprentice is ready to be entered for end-point assessment.

The apprentice assessment organisation does not have to provide specific premises to carry out the end-point assessment. The assessment could take place at the apprentice’s place of work or online in some instances.