To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons has there been a decline in apprenticeship starts in the 2022-23 academic year.

Since 2010, there have been over 5.5 million apprenticeship starts. During that time, we have built a new skills system from the ground up which includes introducing new apprenticeship standards that better meet the needs of employers and apprentices today. There are now over 680 apprenticeships available from entry level right through to masters level, with over 5,000 employers involved in their development.

The government has introduced world class skills opportunities benefitting people whatever age or stage of life. Individuals now have more vocational training options than ever before with the introduction of T Levels, Higher Technical Qualifications, skills bootcamps and high quality apprenticeships. As well as being dependant on individuals choosing to undertake an apprenticeship, demand for apprenticeships is also dependent on employers choosing to offer new apprenticeship opportunities.

There have been 316,940 apprenticeship starts during the first eleven months of the 2022/23 academic year between August 2022 and June 2023, compared to 328,780 reported at the same point in the previous academic year. The department expects to publish full final year data in November 2023 at the following web-address: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships/2022-23.

It is important to note that in 2021/22, the last full academic year for which data is available, apprenticeship starts were 8.6% higher than in 2020/21.