The skills minister has said he is “encouraged” by the growing take-up of higher and degree apprenticeships, as new data shows their share of the market has almost tripled since the launch of the levy.
Robert Halfon is also “pleased” that two-thirds of apprenticeship starts are now at levels 2 and 3 – though this is now the lowest proportion on record.
Final full-year apprenticeship figures have now been published, and confirmed a 3.5 per cent drop in overall starts from 2021/22 to 2022/23, as reported by FE Week last month.
The data release also included a section showing the trends in apprenticeship take-up since the launch of the levy in 2017. Overall, starts across all levels fell by 10 per cent between 2017/18 and 2022/23, moving from 375,760 to 337,140.
