Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the apprenticeship levy on training and skills funding for people aged over 21.

The combination of the apprenticeship levy, the protection of the Adult Education Budget and the extension of loans mean that by 2019-20 the total spending power of the FE sector to support participation will be £3.41bn, an increase in cash terms of 40% compared with 2015-16.