Education and Skills Funding Agency: Apprentices
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Education and Skills Funding Agency has offered apprenticeships in each year since 2017.
Answered by Janet Daby
The government is committed to using apprenticeships to break down barriers to opportunity, support skills development and deliver more effective public services.
As the policy holder for apprenticeships, the department has achieved over 5% of departmental headcount for the last three years. We offer apprenticeships to fill strategic skills gaps and as a development opportunity to all employees.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) closed on 31 March 2025, with its work being integrated into the department.
The department has made use of apprenticeships in its workforce since 2016 and recruitment data for ESFA can be found in the following table:
Year | Number of ESFA Apprentice enrolments starting in year |
2016 | 3 |
2017 | 6 |
2018 | 50 |
2019 | 60 |
2020 | 57 |
2021 | 56 |
2022 | 51 |
2023 | 16 |
2024 | 26 |
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