Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the effectiveness of the Apprenticeship Levy.

We are committed to improving the working of the apprenticeship levy, including delivering greater transparency on how the levy is being spent.

We have already increased the amount of funding that levy-paying employers can transfer to other businesses, from 10% to 25%, in response to feedback from employers. We are pleased to see that levy-payers with uncommitted funds are increasingly using transfers to support apprenticeship starts in smaller employers.

We continue to work closely with employers and business groups to help them take advantage of the levy and consider improvements to the system to meet long-term skills needs.