Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the funds employers have paid into the apprenticeship levy has been disbursed on apprenticeships since 2017; and if he will make a statement.

From the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in May 2017 to the end of January 2019, the most recent month for which data are available, levy-paying employers utilised £601 million of the funds available to them to pay for apprenticeship training in England. This represents 15% of the total funds entering employers’ accounts in the same period (£3,905 million). The total drawdown of £601 million does not include other costs, such as incentives and additional payments for disadvantaged apprentices.

Once levy funds enter employers’ accounts, they can be used to pay for training for 24 months before they begin to expire on a rolling, month-by-month basis. We don’t anticipate that all levy-payers will use all the funds in their accounts, though they are able to. Income from the levy is also used to fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers.