Apprentices: Finance

(asked on 10th January 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 December 2018 to Question 202058 on apprentices: finance, by what means his Department controls expenditure in a demand-led apprenticeship programme; and what steps his Department is taking to prevent an overspend in each of the next three years.


Answered by
Anne Milton Portrait
Anne Milton
This question was answered on 15th January 2019

The departmental budget for spending on apprenticeships in England from 2015-16 to 2019-20 was set initially in the 2015 Spending Review, based on forecast demand and considering factors such as historical start levels.

Funding bands set the maximum that government will contribute towards the training and assessment costs of an individual apprenticeship and are set to achieve high-quality delivery while securing value for money. The Institute for Apprenticeships makes regular recommendations on the pricing of standards, and in 2018 we introduced additional funding bands to ensure that all standards are funded at the appropriate level.

We also set the amount of funding available for supporting non-levy payers, which is delivered through contracts with training providers: currently government pays 90% of training and assessment costs and 100% for the smallest employers who take on 16 to 18 year olds. We have awarded funding totalling more than £500 million to providers across the country between January 2018 and March 2019. This  includes more than £70 million growth funding.

We constantly monitor levels of spend and forecast demand and consider the overall budget position, including as part of the wider departmental position.

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