Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they intend to introduce the Skills England bill.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
The Skills England Bill will be introduced as soon as Parliamentary time allows. The Bill will transfer functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to Skills England, and will be an important part of steps taken to establish Skills England in phases over the next 9 to 12 months.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure that young people have access to careers advice.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)
This government wants young people in all parts of the country to gain workplace skills and to explore career opportunities. In 2024/25, the department is investing approximately £30 million through The Careers and Enterprise Company to support secondary schools and colleges to improve their careers programmes in line with the government’s careers framework, the Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance.
92% of secondary schools and colleges are part of a local Careers Hub that connects educators to employers and apprenticeship providers to improve practice and target support to local priorities. There are over 3,200 fully trained Careers Leaders who implement, coordinate and quality assure careers programmes. Over 400 leading businesses and 4,000 business professionals from across all sectors help schools and colleges to deliver high-quality careers education.
Advice is also available to young people digitally via the National Careers Service. The website helps young people, aged 13 to 18, start discovering their careers options. It includes around 800 job profiles. Young people can access information and advice via webchat and a telephone helpline which is supported by local community-based career advisers. The National Careers Service website can be found here: https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/.
This is supported by the Skills for Life campaign, ‘It all starts with skills’, which promotes a range of priority skills programmes to young people, including apprenticeships, T Levels and Higher Technical Qualifications. Bespoke support is also provided during the exam results period. Get Help with Exam Results Careers Advice will be available from 15 to 31 August.
The government wants to go further to break down barriers to opportunity and give all young people the best life chances. According to a report from the Children’s Commissioner, more than 1 in 3 children report that they do not know enough about good jobs available to them as they get older and leave school.
The department will open the doors to more employers by delivering two weeks-worth of high-quality work experience. This year, the department is piloting new approaches to workplace experiences that will benefit more than 25,000 young people across the country. The three models being tested are virtual workplace experiences for schools in coastal and rural communities; breaking down barriers to high quality workplace experiences for disadvantaged young people; and targeted workplace experiences focused on roles in future growth sectors.
Young people need support to capitalise on these workplace experiences, reflect on what they have learned and set future career goals. The department will train 1,000 careers advisers so that young people can get the expert advice they need.
This government will work closely with schools, colleges, employers and careers advisers to make sure all of our young people can achieve and thrive.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase investment in skills training to meet the needs of more 150,000 additional students seeking higher education by 2030 in England.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
It is important that the department has a sustainable higher education (HE) funding system that responds to the needs of the economy and that is fair to students and to taxpayers. The government keeps the HE funding system under continuous review to ensure that this remains the case, and to provide many different opportunities for learners to acquire vital skills.
The government is committed to creating a world-leading skills system, backed with an additional investment of £3.8 billion over the course of this Parliament to strengthen HE and further education (FE). This includes increasing opportunities for people to develop higher technical skills through T Levels, Apprenticeships, Skills Bootcamps, or Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs). From 2025, the Lifelong Learning Entitlement will transform access to FE and HE, offering all adults the equivalent of four years’ worth of student loans to use flexibly on quality education training over their lifetime.
Through the Strategic Priorities Grant (SPG), the department is investing hundreds of millions of pounds in additional funding over the three-year period to the 2024/25 financial year to support high-quality teaching and facilities, the majority of which goes to supporting the provision of courses in high-cost subjects including in science and engineering, subjects that support the NHS, and degree apprenticeships. This includes the largest increase in government funding for the HE sector to support students and teaching in over a decade. The recurrent SPG budget is £1,456 million for the 2024/25 financial year. This includes an £18 million increase in support for strategically important high-cost subjects.
The department is also providing £40 million over two years through the SPG to support degree apprenticeship providers to expand and help more people access this provision. The department has seen year-on-year growth in degree level apprenticeships (Level 6 and 7) with almost 230,000 starts since their introduction in the 2014/15 academic year. The government has increased investment in the apprenticeships system in England to over £2.7 billion this financial year, to support employers of all sizes access high-quality apprenticeships at all levels.
The department’s Higher Technical Education reforms are growing skills at Level 4 and 5. The department has introduced new HTQs, which will increase the prestige and uptake of level 4 and 5 qualifications. To date, 172 qualifications have been approved as HTQs across seven occupational routes and are being taught at FE Colleges, Institutes of Technology, Universities, and Independent Training Providers. The department has provided up to £115 million in funding to providers to help grow provision across the country, on top of up to £300 million to create a network of 21 Institutes of Technology.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to change the apprenticeship levy and to grant firms more flexibility to use funds from the levy to skill up their workforce.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The apprenticeship levy supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training, both for career starters as well as those looking to upskill or retrain.
The success of the levy is enabling the department to invest £2.7 billion in apprenticeships in England in the 2024/25 financial year, and means that 98% of the English apprenticeships budget was spent over the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years. It is important that this funding remains protected to support apprenticeships. The government has no current plans to allow employers to spend the funds available to them on non-apprenticeships training. Allowing employers to use 50% of funds for non-apprenticeship training could create an additional cost of up to £1.5 billion a year. Without additional investment this could reduce apprenticeship starts to 140,000 a year, which would represent an almost 60% decrease on the 2022/23 academic year.
This month the department increased the proportion of the funds that levy-paying employers can transfer from 25% to 50%. This gives levy-paying employers even greater flexibility in how they use the funds available to them while also supporting more apprenticeships in other businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises, flexi-job apprenticeship agencies and charities.
Employers can choose from almost 700 high-quality apprenticeships and have the option of using flexible training models, such as flexi-job apprenticeships and accelerated apprenticeships. Employers can also access other government-funded skills programmes, including T Levels and Skills Bootcamps.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they will use the underspend of the apprenticeship levy.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training.
The government, via HM Revenue and Customs, collects the apprenticeship levy of 0.5% on total payroll from businesses across the UK with a payroll of more than £3 million. From this, HM Treasury (HMT) sets an English apprenticeships budget for the department, and the devolved governments receive a share of the funding calculated using the Barnett formula.
The department’s apprenticeships budget is used to fund training and assessment for new apprenticeship starts in all employers, levy and non-levy paying employers alike, across England, and to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training and any additional payments made to employers and providers. This means that levy payers’ unspent funds are used to support additional costs and apprenticeships in smaller employers.
In the 2021/22 financial year, the total spend on apprenticeships in England was £2,455 million, against the budget of £2,466 million, meaning that 99.6% of the apprenticeships budget was spent. Previous years’ spending on apprenticeships is set out in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts, which can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-consolidated-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022.
Any underspends in overall departmental budgets by the end of the financial year are first returned to HMT, as per the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance. As employers choose which apprenticeships they offer and when, annual spend of the apprenticeship budget is subject to employer demand.
The government is increasing apprenticeship funding to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year and has removed the limit on the number of apprentices that small and medium-sized enterprises can recruit to support more employers to benefit from the high-quality training that apprenticeships offer.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reduction in (1) the percentage of apprentices under the age of 19, and (2) the number of entry level apprenticeships; and what plans they have to reverse this trend.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The government wants more young people to benefit from apprenticeships that offer high-quality training and opportunities for progression.
There have been 56,200 apprenticeship starts by people under 19 so far in the 2021/22 academic year, compared to 38,800 in the 2020/21 academic year, and 58,100 in the 2019/20 academic year. The proportion of apprenticeship starts in the under 19 age group have recovered, following the decrease seen this time last year, with under 19-year-olds now accounting for 27.6% of total starts.
Employers have developed 647 apprenticeship standards, 140 of which are at Level 2, which is equivalent to GCSE level, and 210 of which are at Level 3, which is equivalent to A level. The department continues to welcome the development of high-quality apprenticeship standards by employers at all levels. There have been 55,300 apprenticeship starts at Level 2 so far in the 2021/22 academic year, compared to 41,500 in the 2020/21 academic year, and 65,000 in the 2019/20 academic year. Starts at this level equate to 27.1% of total starts.
There have been 88,100 apprenticeship starts at Level 3 so far in the 2021/22 academic year compared to 69,100 in the 2020/21 academic year and 87,600 in the 2019/20 academic year. Starts at this level equate to 43.2% of total starts.
Starts at both Levels 2 and 3 still account for 70% of all apprenticeships. Further breakdowns on apprenticeship starts by age and level are published each month and are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships-may-2022.
The department is continuing to improve the apprenticeship system for employers. We are making apprenticeship training even more flexible, so that employers across all sectors can access apprenticeships. We are also helping employers choose more flexible training models like flexi-job, front-loaded, and accelerated apprenticeships.
The department has a range of work underway to ensure that young people can access apprenticeships more easily. This includes working on new ways to connect young people in schools and colleges with employers and providers much earlier in their final year, when they are considering their options. It also includes working with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to identify and promote standards most suitable for those starting their careers. We are also working with employers and providers to highlight the benefits of hiring young apprentices, and increase their use of our free recruitment tools so that vacancies are accessible through our ‘find an apprenticeship’ service.
Additionally, the department is exploring options with the Office for Students to allocate up to £8 million from the strategic priorities grant to accelerate the growth of degree apprenticeships. Degree apprenticeships offer a high-quality alternative to traditional university study. They have a key role to play in ensuring that young people are doing courses that give them the skills and knowledge to move into high-value employment that benefits them and the economy.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to devolve funding and responsibility for apprenticeships for 16–19-year-olds to Metro Mayors.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Shadow Minister (Education)
The department’s reforms have created an employer-led apprenticeship system. Employers across England are now empowered to design the apprenticeship standards which meet their skills needs and to choose the apprenticeship training they need from a range of high-quality providers.
In doing so, both employers who pay the apprenticeship levy and those who do not can directly access government funding for apprenticeships. As such, local employers are in control of an apprenticeship system which enables them to address local skills needs. As a result, the department currently has no plans to devolve any funding or responsibility for apprenticeships to mayors or other local partners.
The department has worked closely with employers and mayoral combined authorities to help them better address local skills needs through apprenticeships. We have improved the apprenticeship levy transfer system, so it is easier for large employers to transfer their unused funds to smaller employers, building on the work of the West Midlands combined authority.
In September 2021, the department introduced a new online service to enable large employers to pledge funds available for transfer, allowing a much wider range of businesses to browse and apply for available funds. Employers using the service can choose to pledge funds for a specific geographic area. To date, employers including Amazon UK, DPD, and HomeServe have pledged to transfer almost £9 million.
The government is increasing overall apprenticeship funding to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year. This funding will support apprenticeships in employers of all sizes, including small employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy and for whom the government will continue to pay 95% of training costs.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to reform the apprenticeship levy; and what plans they have to redistribute unused funds from the apprenticeship levy to other forms of post-16 education and training.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The apprenticeship levy is an important part of our reforms to apprenticeships. As well as funding new apprenticeships for levy-paying employers, income from the levy is used to fund new apprenticeships for employers that do not pay the levy, as well as existing apprentices that started in previous years. Levy-paying employers have 24 months in which to spend the funds available to them before they begin to expire on a rolling, month-by-month basis.
We do not anticipate that all employers who pay the levy will need or want to use all the funds available to them, but they are able to do so if they wish. Expired apprenticeship levy funds are not lost but are used to support apprenticeships in smaller employers and to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training.
Apprenticeships are vital in driving economic recovery, and we continue to improve apprenticeships to make it easier for employers to make full use of their levy funds. Levy-paying employers can transfer up to 25% of their annual funds to help support apprenticeship starts in their supply chain or to meet local skills needs. As announced at the Spending Review by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, we are improving the apprenticeship levy transfer process so that, from August 2021, employers who pay the levy will be able to pledge funds for transfer to other employers, including small-medium enterprises (SMEs), supported by a new online service to match levy payers with SMEs.
In addition, we are making apprenticeships more flexible so that they better meet the needs of employers from all sectors. We continue to support employers by encouraging greater use of innovative apprenticeship training models, such as the front-loading of off-the-job training. We are also developing accelerated apprenticeships so that apprentices with substantial prior learning (e.g. T Level graduates) can complete an apprenticeship more quickly.
We currently have no plans to review what apprenticeship levy funds can be spent on.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings in the OECD Adult Skills survey, published in 2012, which found that the UK is the only country where the numeracy skills of 16- to 24-year-olds were lower than the over-55 age group; and what actions they are taking to address this.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
We recognise the importance of numeracy skills, both in work and everyday life, as securing good levels of numeracy increases individual productivity and improves earnings and employment opportunities. Our policy is to offer everyone mathematics qualifications and courses which are of high quality and which lead to genuine improvements in skills.
Since the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development survey was published eight years ago, we have taken a number of steps to improve numeracy skills particularly for this age group.
We have introduced a requirement that 16 to 19 year old students on a study programme without GCSE mathematics grade 4 or above must continue to study the subject. We have also ensured mathematics skills are a requirement of apprenticeships and T Levels.
As well as GCSE mathematics, post-16 students can also study Functional Skills mathematics. We have recently reformed these qualifications to improve their rigour and relevance, and to ensure they provide students with the essential skills they need for life and work.
In 2019, 76.2% of 19 year olds held a level 2 qualification in mathematics, an increase of 3.8 percentage points since 2013/2014 (the year before we required students to continue studying English and mathematics).
This is in addition to our continued support for adults, through our statutory entitlement. All adults who are yet to achieve a GCSE grade 4 or above, or an equivalent qualification, in mathematics can access this provision free of charge, regardless of income or employment status.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, for the most recent year in which figures are available, (1) how many, and (2) what percentage of, companies which pay the apprenticeship levy spent their entire apprenticeship fund in that year.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
Employers in England who pay the apprenticeship levy can access funds for apprenticeship training by registering for an apprenticeship service account. The funds in employers’ accounts reflect the ‘English percentage’ of an employer’s levy contribution and include a 10% top-up from the government. During the 2019-20 financial year, 15% of employer accounts fully utilised the funds entering the levy-payer’s account. This is shown in the attached table.
Levy declarations relating to the 2019-20 financial year entered employer accounts between May 2019 and April 2020, as payments enter accounts a month in arrears. Payments relating to the 2019-20 financial year were made between May 2019 and April 2020, also a month in arrears. These payments cover the cost of apprenticeships training only. The cost of any additional payments to employers and/or providers and additional support, such as for English and maths training, is met by the apprenticeship budget and therefore is not deducted from employer’s accounts.
Employers have 24 months to spend the funds available to them. It is therefore possible for employers to spend more than they declare in a financial year.
Spending on the apprenticeship programme is demand-led and employers can choose which apprenticeships they offer, how many they offer and when they are offered. We do not anticipate that all employers who pay the levy will need or want to use all the funds available to them, but they are able to do so if they wish.