ASK programme now run by the Careers and Enterprise Company

The Department for Education (DfE) has transferred the contract management of the Apprenticeship Support & Knowledge (ASK) programme to The Careers & Enterprise Company, the national body for careers education.

Launched in 2015, The ASK programme, funded by the Department for Education, offers free support for schools and colleges in England to increase awareness about apprenticeships, and T levels among students, teachers, parents and carers.

ASK is managed and delivered regionally by four key partners and supported centrally by Amazing Apprenticeships;

CXK – South of England

EDT – London

Workpays – Midlands

BL Training – North

Over the last year, the ASK programme has successfully engaged over 2,400 schools and colleges and had interactions with more than 625,000 students, 15,000 teachers and 45,000 parents and carers.

Since starting nine years ago, the programme has had a marked impact, with more than 4 million student interactions taking place to support students in learning more about apprenticeships and technical education.

All four regional organisations will now be working more closely with The Careers and Enterprise Company to build on the success of ASK through promoting and developing collaborative partnerships and targeted activity within regional and local skills priorities.

CEC’s national network of 44 Careers Hubs will play a key supporting role in developing the well-established partnerships already in place with schools, colleges, employers and Mayoral and Local Authorities.

Oli de Botton, CEO of The Careers & Enterprise Company said:
“We know how important it is to ensure young people receive meaningful, relevant and inspiring information about apprenticeships and other technical pathways. These routes can be life changing – and it is our job to help young people access them. We are really looking forward to working with and continuing to build on the fantastic work of the established regional ASK Delivery Partners to ensure schools and colleges continue to access a rich variety of high-quality activities and resources for their school and college communities.”

Anna Morrison, CEO of Amazing Apprenticeships said:
“We are proud to have been a partner of the ASK programme since its inception nine years ago. We firmly believe that this latest arrangement will enable us to work even more closely with the CEC, maximising our collective efforts to ensure that even more young people and their families can access high quality information about apprenticeships and technical education. We are genuinely excited for the academic year ahead and the collaborative opportunities that it will bring.”

Find out more about the ASK Programme here: https://amazingapprenticeships.com/about-ask