Alex Cunningham – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alex Cunningham on 2015-10-16.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of soldiers have been awarded the Public Services apprenticeship without having attained Level 2 in English and mathematics or having sat a test at Level 2 in English and mathematics as part of their apprenticeship course.

Mark Lancaster

The Army is compliant with the Government policy requiring apprenticeships to offer learners training to Level 2 English and Mathematics where that level has not already been achieved; however apprentices are only required to pass Level 1 to complete their apprenticeship. In 2014-15, around 20% of those soldiers who achieved a Public Service Apprenticeship also achieved a qualification at Level 2 in English or Maths, or both, during the course of their apprenticeship. Information is not held centrally for those learners who had already achieved that level of qualification (or equivalent) prior to enrolment and are therefore not required to take further qualifications at that stage, or for those who have studied at Level 2, but did not achieve the qualification.