To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the availability of apprenticeships across the transport sector.

The Department regularly reviews the availability of apprenticeships within the transport industry. It is committed to working with arm’s length bodies and industry partners to create high quality apprenticeships, so that the sector has the skilled workforce in place to build, maintain and run the UK transport system. For example, the HS2 programme is expected to create 2000 apprenticeships. The Transport Employment and Skills Taskforce, established in 2022, is considering what more IT can do to promote apprenticeships and other training routes across the industry.