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 allocating funding from the apprenticeship levy to support apprenticeships in SMEs.

The apprenticeship levy is paid by employers with a payroll of over £3 million a year. These employers are able to spend funds they have paid into the levy through their apprenticeship service account. All other employers use funds that have been allocated to providers, who offer apprenticeship training.

We have recently awarded hundreds of providers across the country with initial awards totalling around £485 million to deliver apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers. Non-levy paying employers benefit from government co-investment of 90 per cent of apprenticeship training and assessment costs. 100 per cent of the cost of training is paid for small employers, with fewer than 50 employees, who take on apprentices who are 16 to 18 years old, 19 to 24 year old care leavers or 19 to 24 year olds with an Education and Health Care Plan.

From April 2018, we will allow eligible levy-paying employers to transfer up to 10 per cent of the annual value of funds entering their digital accounts to other employers, including smaller businesses.

By 2019/20 annual investment in apprenticeships in England will be £2.45 billion, double what was spent in 2010-11, ensuring that all employers can access high quality apprenticeships training.