Written questions by Hazelgrove.

What assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential merits of enabling British National (Overseas) visa holders to access apprenticeship programmes in (a) the health and social care sector and (b) other sectors before completing three years’ residence in the UK.

The department regularly reviews the apprenticeship funding rules, often in consultation with others, including the Home Office and the Department for Education. This includes the requirements for ordinary residency. This three-year residency requirement is longstanding within the apprenticeship programme. It applies to both UK and non-UK nationals. It is applied consistently to ensure that the individuals have a connection to the UK and are committed to living in the country before they are eligible for training funded by the taxpayer.

If she will (a) take steps to make identity theft a police-recordable crime and (b) make an assessment of the adequacy of support given to victims of identity theft.

The act of stealing personal information, and using it for criminal means and gains, is already outlawed. This includes through legislation such as the Fraud Act 2006, Computer Misuse Act 1990 and the Data Protection Act 2018.The most effective way of preventing identity theft is to improve the safety and security of the identity systems we use and empower people to protect themselves from identity theft, particularly online.We have introduced a checklist providing advice and steps on how to prevent the misuse of identities which can be found here:https://data.actionfraud.police.uk/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Identity-theft-victims-checklist.pdfFurther information about staying safe online and to avoid identity theft-enabled fraud can be found at: https://stopthinkfraud.campaign.gov.uk/