House of Commons Apprenticeship Programme

Given the Prime Minister’s announcement that there will be an apprenticeship guarantee, and the significant decline in apprenticeships during the coronavirus crisis, building on the work that Mr Speaker is already doing in increasing the apprenticeship programme in the House of Commons, will the Commission double that programme, offer every new recruit to the House an apprenticeship and ensure that as many young people as possible can do apprenticeships in the House?

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his long-term interest in the issue of apprenticeships in the House of Commons. I reassure him we are doing absolutely everything to remain committed to providing an effective and inclusive scheme in the House. We are always looking for ways to increase and improve our scheme and we will do what the right hon. Gentleman suggests, in line with the apprenticeship guarantee, as announced by the Prime Minister. We are close to halfway through our current scheme, and in the past 12 months, seven apprentices have passed their endpoint assessment. We were set to meet our obligations of 2.3% of public sector employees for new apprenticeships, if it was not for the coronavirus pandemic. We will do everything possible to meet our obligations to young apprenticeships and we will do more than we need to do in this House.