Dr. Mary-Liz Trant:

We can provide that information to the Deputy. We were looking at the idea of adding on a module or a top-up on running their own businesses that apprentices could access just before the pandemic hit, and then surviving and keeping the system going took over. It is something we would very much like to come back to. The benefit of the pandemic and looking at online provision is to consider drawing on something such as e-college and the online system to build and develop a module that apprentices could decide to take on and would get student support for online. It could be something they build on and add to their apprenticeship qualification.

It is definitely something we want, because many apprentices go into running their own business and to get that more formal assistance would be very helpful to them.

On the various apprenticeships and the cost for phase 4 and phase 6, it is not official, but there are employers who help out apprentices where there is a financial challenge but, obviously, that is not possible. We spoke about micro-enterprises earlier and that is not something an employer can always do. It can be a real challenge. There is reference in the action plan for apprenticeship to look at some form of bursary for apprentices in particular situations. We could potentially look at challenges such as that, where there is some form of financial support available for apprentices who are genuinely struggling, due to whatever their life circumstances are, to continue and complete their apprenticeship. However, it is something that we do not have at the moment, but certainly something that we will want to look at.