Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether an organisation has been approved to carry out the end-point assessment for apprenticeship standards; and if not, which organisation will be approved.

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. Each assessment organisation is approved to deliver the end-point assessment for a specific apprenticeship standard, rather than for all apprenticeship standards.

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% coverage of all apprentice starts, including those who are expected to approach their end-point assessment within the next 12 months, for which an organisation is about to be put on the register.

There are a small number of standards that already have starts, but for which an assessment organisation has not yet been confirmed. We are examining those lower-volume apprenticeships to resolve this and ensure there is always end-point assessment provision by the time apprentices complete their apprenticeship. This includes working with apprenticeship Trailblazer groups and potential assessment organisations to fill gaps in provision and put contingency plans in place.