Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of devolving (a) careers funding streams and (b) London’s apprenticeship levy funding to the control of the Greater London Authority; and if he will make a statement.

The Department for Education has agreed to only devolve the Adult Education Budget to Mayoral Combined Authorirties and Greater London Area.

The careers strategy, published in December 2017, sets out opportunities for local involvement and funding for a range of activities across the country which may include the Greater London Authority:

• £5 million for an investment fund to help disadvantaged pupils to get the additional support they need to prepare for work, including opportunities for mentoring and guidance;

• £5 million for “careers hubs” in 20 areas, linking together schools, colleges, universities and other local organisations;

• £4 million for the development of new training programmes for Careers Leaders and support for at least 500 schools and colleges to train their own Careers Leaders;

• £2 million to test which careers activities are appropriate and work well in primary schools.

In addition, we are re-procuring the National Careers Service area-based contracts that will provide free and impartial careers advice and guidance to adults. We will be awarding a number of contracts across the country and local advice will be tailored to local needs. The Education and Skills Funding Agency has worked with the Greater London Authority and will continue to do so.

While we have devolved some aspects of skills locally, such as the adult skills budget we have been clear that we need to keep apprenticeships as a nationally driven and funded programme. This is critical if the system is going to produce the skills employers and the economy needs.

Locally, employers will be driving the economy and can provide the local perspective on the skills needed. The levy allows employers to spend their funds on the apprenticeship training that they judge best meets their needs.

From April 2018, we will allow eligible levy-paying employers to transfer up to 10% of the annual value of funds entering their digital accounts to other employers. We plan to issue further details on how this will work before April to give employers time to prepare.

I recently met with the co-chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for London on this issue, and would encourage local authorities to work with employers to ensure that apprenticeships funding is being used effectively in their area.