Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many additional apprenticeships will be created from funding to provide free placements for employers taking on apprentices under 25 years old.

From the next academic year, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for eligible people aged under 25 at non-levy paying employers. At the moment, this only happens for apprentices aged 16-21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care. This change will make it easier for those employers to engage with apprenticeships by cutting costs and reducing bureaucracy for both them and their training providers.

This is an important step in the government’s ambition to support 50,000 more young people into apprenticeships, which will also be supported by expanding foundation apprenticeships into sectors that traditionally recruit young people and £140 million to pilot new approaches to better connect young people aged 16–24, especially those who are NEET, to local apprenticeship opportunities.