UPLIFT IN #APPRENTICESHIP STARTS IS PROMISING, BUT THERE’S STILL MORE WORK TO BE DONE

National Statistics: Apprenticeships and traineeships: July 2019

Statistics covering apprenticeships and traineeships for the year-to-date (August 2018 to April 2019).

The new stats revealed:

• There were 311,200 apprenticeship starts reported so far for the first three quarters of the 2018/19 academic year, an increase of 7.1 per cent from 290,500 reported at this time in 2017/18. 
• Starts have decreased by 29.3 and 19.1 per cent compared to the equivalent period this time in 2016/17 and 2015/16, before the introduction of the apprenticeship levy. 

Apprenticeships and Skills Minister Anne Milton said:

I’m very pleased that the number of people starting an apprenticeship has increased by 7.1% compared to this time last year. It is also excellent news that over 61% of people started their apprenticeship journey on one of our new higher-quality apprenticeship opportunities, which have all been designed in partnership with employers so apprentices gain the skills employers need. 

“Apprenticeships changes lives. They are giving people of all ages and backgrounds the chance to gain the skills to get ahead in life. There are now over 450 of our new high-quality apprenticeships available in everything from train driver, solicitor, aerospace engineer and marine pilot.”

Martin Hottass, Group Director, Technical Training, at City & Guilds Group, said:

“It’s encouraging to see apprenticeship starts recovering throughout the last academic year, and it’s about time too. While we predicted it would take time for the new apprenticeship standards and levy to bed in, it is a great relief to see the previous years’ downward trend finally reversed.

“High quality apprenticeships that deliver technical and vocational skills, are key to future-proofing Britain’s economy. As employers face uncertainty over access to international talent post-Brexit, and continue to manage rapid advancements in technology, maintaining a talent pipeline of skilled staff, while upskilling existing employees, has never been so important. Apprenticeships remain one of the most important ways to close these skills gaps.

“The latest figures are good news, but employers continue to face many barriers to accessing levy funds. According to research City & Guilds Group conducted earlier this year, 92% of levy-paying businesses want to see greater flexibility in how they spend their funds. It’s clear that skills policy cannot be created in a vacuum; we need Government, the education sector and employers to work together to iron out any issues with the apprenticeship system and bring quality apprenticeships to the top of the agenda. The government’s relaxation of the levy rules for the film industry is a pragmatic step in the right direction in this context.”

Documents

Apprenticeships and traineeships release: July 2019 – main tables

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Apprenticeships and traineeships release: July 2019 – main tables

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Apprenticeships and traineeships release: July 2019 – underlying data

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Pre-release access list: Apprenticeships and traineeships release July 2019

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Details

This release presents apprenticeships and traineeships statistics reported to date for the first 3 quarters (August 2018 to April 2019) of the 2018 to 2019 academic year for England.

Final data for earlier years is also available, along with data for apprenticeships broken down by:

• learner characteristics including:
  • gender
  • ethnicity
  • learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities
• different geographical areas

Additional breakdowns of this data are available in the FE data library.

For further information about this publication or to provide feedback, please contact:

Further education statistical dissemination team

Praful Whiteman
Department for Education
2 St Paul’s Place
125 Norfolk Street

Sheffield
S1 2FJ

Email[email protected]

Published 11 July 2019