Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much Apprenticeship Levy has been (a) collected from and (b) provided to Northern Ireland employers in each of the last five years.

Reliable estimates of the revenue raised from businesses in Northern Ireland from the Apprenticeship Levy are not available as any estimate would need to be based on where employers are registered, and therefore would not necessarily reflect where the liabilities are accrued or where employees are based. Any estimate would not include businesses registered in Wales, Scotland, or England, who have a presence and pay employees in Northern Ireland.

While the Apprenticeship Levy is UK wide, apprenticeship policy and spending is devolved. This means that the devolved governments receive funding through the Barnett formula in relation to English apprenticeship spending as part of their block grant. The Block Grant Transparency publication breaks down all changes in the devolved governments’ block grant funding from the 2015 Spending Review up to and including Main Estimates 2023-24. The most recent report was published in July 2023. It is for the devolved governments to allocate their funding in devolved areas as they see fit, including investing in their skills programmes.