Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the total money raised by the Apprenticeship Levy will be allocated to levy-paying companies for their own apprenticeship training schemes.

Spending by levy-paying employers and non-levy paying employers on apprenticeship training and assessment depends on demand for, and cost of, apprenticeships that employers themselves choose.

In England, employers who pay the levy can use funds in their apprenticeship service accounts to pay for training and assessment. Funds enter employers’ accounts every month based on the amount of Apprenticeship Levy declared, the proportion of their pay to employees living in England and a 10% top-up applied from Government.

For non-levy paying employers, government funding is awarded to training providers under contract. We launched a procurement at the end of July which closed in early September. Through this procurement exercise, the Education and Skills Funding Agency will make available at least £440m of funding over 15 months for new apprenticeship starts from 1 January 2018.

By 2019-20 funding available for apprenticeships in England will be £2.45 billion; double what was spent in 2010-11.