Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of companies who have transferred the apprenticeship levy in London.

As at 31 January 2019, there were 200 commitments in England entered into the Apprenticeship Service, where the transfer of funds between apprenticeship service accounts has been approved (a commitment is where a potential apprentice, who is expected to go on to start an apprenticeship, has been recorded with the Apprenticeship Service). Of these transferred commitments as at 31 January 2019, there were 130 transferred commitments that had materialised into apprenticeship starts. Further statistics can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeship-and-levy-statistics-february-2019.

Information on companies transferring apprenticeship levy funds in each region of England is not available in the format requested. Many levy-paying employers are headquartered in one region but operate across the country meaning that we cannot attribute levy-funds transferred in individual locations. Individual employers have control of the expenditure (and transfer) of apprenticeship levy funds based on their current and future skills needs.

It should be noted that, from April this year, levy-paying employers can transfer 25% of their levy funds to other employers.