SOME key facts about Apprenticeships:
There are more than 180 job roles available for apprentices ranging from accountancy to textiles, engineering to veterinary nursing, business administration to construction;
Funding for Apprenticeships has increased by almost a quarter between 2007/08 and 2009/10, to over £1bn;
New starts have increased from 65,000 in 1996/97 to 225,000 in 2007/08. In the first nine months of the 2008/09 academic year there were 196,600 new Apprenticeship starts, an increase of 15% on the same period in 2007/08;
Since 1996/97, there have been more than 2m Apprenticeship starts. Apprenticeship starts at Level 3 increased from 57,000 in 2006/07 to 73,000 in 2007/08. This is up 28% on the year before;
Apprenticeship completions have risen from 39,000 in 2001/02 to 113,000 in 2007/08. Apprenticeship completion rates reached an all-time-high in 2007/08 of 64% compared to 48% in 2005/06 and 37% in 2004/05.
