Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent comparative assessment he has made of the levels of demand among 18 to 25 year olds for (a) apprenticeships and (b) traditional further and higher education full time provision.

Apprenticeships provide young people with the opportunity to earn and learn the skills needed to start an exciting career in a wide range of industries, everything from artificial intelligence, archaeology, data science, business management and banking. There are currently over 640 employer-designed apprenticeship standards available at all levels, ensuring a wide variety of options for young people.

Prospective apprentices can search for employer advertised apprenticeship opportunities through the ‘find an apprenticeship’ (FAA) service on gov.uk and create an account to manage their applications and be alerted about new apprenticeships. Employers can advertise their apprenticeship vacancies through various other commercial services, or their own in-house channels, instead of, or in addition to FAA.

Latest published figures show over 15,000 vacancies on FAA available for prospective apprentices of all ages to apply for. Although we do not routinely publish data on apprenticeship demand through FAA, figures from the 12 months to 15 July 2021 show a ratio of roughly three applicants under 25 to one vacancy.

We are supporting employers to offer more apprenticeships to young people through encouraging more flexible training models such as front-loaded training, accelerated apprenticeships, and flexi-job apprenticeships. In addition, we continue to encourage more young people to consider apprenticeships through our Apprenticeship Support & Knowledge programme which reached over 600,000 students across England in the last academic year.

We recognise the need for skills from employers and learners, and in January 2021 we published the Skills for Jobs White Paper. This is focused on giving people the skills they need, in a way that suits them, so they can get great jobs in sectors the economy needs and boost this country’s productivity.

The White Paper supports delivery of my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister’s, Lifetime Skills Guarantee which is aimed at giving people the opportunity to upskill and reskill at different points in their life. This includes funding people for their first advanced level (A level equivalent) course through Free Courses for Jobs, short, flexible ways to train through employer-led Skills Bootcamps, and a Lifelong Loan Entitlement to be introduced from 2025.

It is also focused on putting employers at the heart of the skills system so education and training meets their needs and local areas planning what skills they need through Local Skills Improvement Plans.

Together with other key reforms, such as the introduction of T Levels as a high-quality alternative to A levels, employer led apprenticeships and boosting level 4 and 5 technical provision, we are ensuring that there are a wide range of opportunities available for people of all ages to get the skills they need and meet demand.

In respect of higher education (HE), 2021 has been a record year for UK students in HE admissions, not just in terms of the number of applications, but also in terms of those who have been accepted onto university courses. The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service publishes data on the number of applicants and acceptances by age to full-time undergraduate higher education. Figures for the 2021 application cycle show the number of UK domiciled 18 to 24 year old applicants was 505,880, and the number of UK domiciled 18 to 24 year old acceptances was 423,270.