Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, who is responsible for carrying out the end point assessment for an apprenticeship standard when there is no approved organisation in place to do so.

All end-point assessments must be carried out by an independent assessment organisation on the Skills Funding Agency’s Register of Apprentice Assessment Organisations to ensure they are high-quality.

The assessment market has been adjusting rapidly for most new apprenticeship standards. 61% of all apprentice starts on standards have an end-point assessment organisation available to them, whether they are close to needing end-point assessment or not. This rises to 94% of all apprentice starts, including those who are expected to reach their gateway within the next 12 months, where an organisation is very close to being put on the register.

There is, however, a small number of standards where there are starts and an assessment organisation has not yet been confirmed. We are taking action to address this, including examining those lower volume and specialist apprenticeships where the market may not adjust quickly enough, to determine whether further steps are needed to ensure there is always end-point assessment provision by the time apprentices complete their apprenticeship. This includes working with trailblazer groups and potential assessment organisations to fill gaps in provision and put contingency plans in place.