To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail any additional support measures he can introduce to help micro-businesses and small businesses take on apprentices.

My Department provides a range of support to help all employers, including micro-business and small businesses, employ apprentices. This includes:

Making the case for and overseeing significant budget to fund the delivery of apprentices – this includes recent increases in budget to support all-age apprenticeships.

Establishing a high-quality and local network of providers to deliver the off the job learning. Training is delivered by further education colleges, higher education institutions, the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise and non-statutory contracted training suppliers.

Facilitating the engagement of stakeholders and employers through 19 Sectoral Partnerships to ensure apprenticeship pathways and content align with the needs of our economy.

Delivering apprenticeship promotional campaigns, and the annual Apprenticeship Week and Awards which help to highlight the benefits of apprenticeships to both potential apprentices and employers.

In addition, I recently launched an Apprenticeship Inclusion Challenge Fund which will support innovative ideas from the skills and employer community on how to address barriers to apprenticeships. Finally, I will be publishing an Apprenticeship Action Plan which will set out wider actions that will be delivered this mandate to further develop our apprenticeship system.