Apprenticeships are the only vocational qualifications that require the possession of literacy and numeracy qualifications as an exit requirement.
Quite why is a bit of a mystery. One might presume the thinking would be along the lines that, because apprenticeship completion depends on displaying competence in a specific role, it should also ensure that literacy and numeracy levels qualifications are 'baked in' at a commensurate level.
The problem with this argument is that if levels of literacy and numeracy are not at a sufficient level, the apprentice would not be able to demonstrate vocational competence at all and thus would not complete the qualification. The need for a qualification is therefore a bit of a red herring – if they have the skill level but not the qualification, then their vocational competency can still be displayed.
It seems more likely, then, that the requirement is simply an example of hitching one policy to another wagon – the aim to drive up overall levels of literacy and numeracy via the attainment of qualifications has simply been grafted on to apprenticeships. This raises the question as to why literacy and numeracy requirements have now been unhitched from T Levels for 16-19 year-olds (where 'study towards' maths and English is now sufficient, even though qualifications were exit requirements on their inception), and it makes the reasoning for apprenticeships being an outlier in this respect even more baffling.
Despite these anomalies, the rules are what they are, so it would make sense that the teaching of literacy and numeracy in workplace settings such as apprenticeships could in most cases be most usefully undertaken in an applied fashion by using the naturally occurring tasks and evidence in the working environment. Enter Functional Skills, which were first introduced in 2007 as part of a three-year pilot programme to replace existing ‘Key Skills’ and ‘Skills For Life’ qualifications, and which became more widely adopted over the early 2010s.