Dr. Mary-Liz Trant:

We were doing a big piece of work on completion rates. The non-completion rates across the board on average is 11%. It is actually really high. These are our emerging findings and we will have a much more detailed piece of work done on it. The retention and completion rates for apprenticeship, relative to other kinds of learning, are actually very high. Earning potential while on apprenticeship was mentioned. We know that young people are making decisions based on that. The CSO study Mr. Brownlee referred to shows those average earnings. That message about the lifetime earning premia that apprentices get is really powerful and we want to get the message out much more strongly that somebody is actually earning while he or she is learning and it grows, and then when he or she qualifies and emerges into his or her career, the earnings are really attractive and continue growing. There is no student debt and people are earning from the very start of their training. The feedback we have had from a survey of apprentices we did just at the end of last year shows a real appetite and interest in the apprenticeship route.