Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has held discussions with the National Union of Apprenticeships on raising the apprentice minimum wage to the national living wage in the last 12 months.

The department is committed to supporting more people into high-quality apprenticeships. We want to ensure that apprentice minimum pay rates support learners of all ages and backgrounds to enter and complete apprenticeships.

The independent Low Pay Commission advises the government on minimum pay rates, including the apprentice national minimum wage rate. Its recommendations follow public consultation, which stakeholders are able to feed into.

The Low Pay Commission will shortly set out its recommendations on minimum pay rates from April 2023.

Most employers pay their apprentices more than the minimum. The Apprenticeship Evaluation Learner Survey 2021 data shows that the median basic hourly pay for apprentices in 2021 was £8.23 for Intermediate (Level 2) and £9.09 for Advanced (Level 3) apprentices, £12.51 for Level 4 and 5 apprentices and £14.48 for Level 6 and 7 apprentices.

The department continues to offer bursaries and additional payments to support eligible individuals, such as 16 to 24-year-old care-leavers, into apprenticeships.