Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government when they expect the register of approved apprenticeship training providers to reopen to applicants.

The register of apprenticeship training providers is open to applicants now, but only where the training they offer meets the definition of ‘critical workers’ in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, with a linked employer endorsement to verify that any new training responds to an identified training gap. We will keep this approach to targeted entry to the register under review subject to the course of the COVID-19 outbreak, which will include any changes to the definition of ‘critical workers’ that may arise.

That approach reflects the government’s plan to raise the quality of delivery across the apprenticeship training market, and to progressively introduce more stringent entry criteria for entry to the register. On that basis, we have also been recently inviting all current, active providers on the register to reapply.