The numbers achieving advanced apprenticeships has grown by a third according to the latest figures. Provisional data from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills shows that an extra 2,700 people completed their advanced apprenticeship in the first three months of the 200910 academic year compared with the same period in 200809, increasing from 9,700 to 12,400. A record 239,900 people started apprenticeships in 200809, up nearly 7 per cent on the year before. The overall success rate was nearly 71 per cent, seven percentage points up on the previous year.