The DfE has published the latest apprenticeships statistics covering apprenticeship starts, apprenticeship service registrations and commitments. It shows there have been 389,200 apprenticeship starts reported to date between August 2018 and July 2019 for the 2018/19 academic year. This compares to 369,700 for the equivalent period in 2017/18. Starts in the same period for 2016/17 were 491,300 and in 2015/16 they were 503,700. Of the 389,200 apprenticeship starts reported so far in 2018/19, 63.2% (245,900) were on apprenticeship standards and. It has also been reported that 56% of apprenticeship starts have been supported by levy paying employers. The Education Secretary Gavin Williamson’s comments on the statistics are here and FE Weeks comments here. Their full statistics collection for FE and skills can be seen here.