To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department plans to repeat the exercise undertaken for its study, Apprenticeship Pay: 2007 Survey of Earnings by Sector.

This Department does plan to undertake a survey of apprenticeship pay in 2011, following the introduction of the new apprentice minimum wage. The Government have recently strengthened the pay arrangements for apprentices by ending their exemption from the minimum wage and bringing all apprentices within the national minimum wage (NMW) framework. The new rate of £2.50 per hour was introduced from 1 October 2010.