The Agenda for Change multi-year pay and contract reform deal 2018/19 to 2020/21 included a commitment for the NHS Staff Council to negotiate a new provision on pay for apprentices within the National Health Service terms and conditions of service.<\/p>
Employers and trade unions were unable to reach a consensus on pay following lengthy negotiations but did agree on other areas including on job descriptions and person specifications for apprentices and on treatment of internal applicants to apprenticeship roles.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4527", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Helen Whately"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Faversham and Mid Kent"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Helen Whately"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-12-08", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-12-08T14:25:54.257Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "17"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-11-30", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "NHS: Apprentices"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing a national pay-scale for apprentices across the NHS.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4444", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Karin Smyth"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Bristol South"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Karin Smyth"} ], "uin" : "122788"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1217071", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department of Health and Social Care"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1217071/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Department for Education operate the apprenticeship levy to support employers across all sectors to undertake training as apprentices. Apprenticeships funding can be used to cover the eligible costs of training and assessment for the apprentice, but it currently does not allow costs of backfill to be met \u2013 this falls to National Health Service employers employing apprentices.<\/p>
We recognise that the nursing apprenticeship requires a high percentage of apprentice time spent in off the job training. Apprenticeships are real jobs with training and employers cover employment costs as they would with any employee, including wages while training.<\/p>
Apprenticeships continue to play a vital role in delivering the high-quality skills employers need and that will support our economic recovery post COVID-19.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4527", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Helen Whately"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Faversham and Mid Kent"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Helen Whately"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2020-07-02", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2020-07-02T11:06:57.26Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "17"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-06-23", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "NHS: Apprentices"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of backfilling costs in the NHS on the NHS' ability to provide affordable apprenticeships programmes for (a) nursing and (b) other careers in healthcare.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4444", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Karin Smyth"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Bristol South"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Karin Smyth"} ], "uin" : "63383"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1139237", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department of Health and Social Care"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1139237/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Department does not centrally collect the information requested.<\/p>
Public sector organisations in scope to meet the public sector apprentice target provide data annually to the Department for Education on numbers of apprentice starts. Data provided by the Department for Education show the National Health Service organisations in scope had 13,800 apprentice starts in 2017/18.<\/p>
Published statistics which cover public sector apprenticeships in England in the first year of the target, 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018 are available at the following link:<\/p>