To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what his latest estimate is of the percentage of 16 to 18-year-olds in work-based learning, including apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships in (a) England, (b) the Leeds metropolitan district area and (c) Leeds West constituency. (183127)

I have been asked to reply.

Estimates of participation in education, training and employment in England for those aged 16 to 18 are published annually by the Department in a Statistical First Release (SFR) each June. The most recent estimate of the proportion of young people of academic age 16 to 18 in work-based learning in England was 7.2 per cent. This estimate relates to the end of 2006. The figure includes all young people on apprenticeships, advanced apprenticeships, NVQ learning and Entry to Employment, but not pre-apprenticeships, since these are not yet available for study.

Pre-apprenticeships will be part of the offer to young people for whom a Level 2 programme is not yet suitable. We are reforming the qualifications and programmes at this level—the “Foundation Learning Tier”—and trials are under way of four new pathways, one of which is specifically designed for young people who are preparing to progress into the workplace, as a successor to Entry to Employment.

The Department also publishes local estimates of participation in England alongside the national figures, but these are available only for young people of academic age 16 and 17. The local figures are available by local authority, but cannot be broken down by parliamentary constituency. The most recent local estimates for participation in work-based learning for Leeds relate to the end of 2005, and are shown in the following table. The equivalent national estimates are also shown for comparison.