Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to review the requirement on schools to pay the apprenticeship levy.

The levy is being introduced to fund a step change in apprenticeship numbers and quality. Levying all employers with annual pay bills over £3 million is the simplest, fairest and most objective way of implementing the levy which is charged at 0.5% of an employer’s annual pay bill. We have been clear that there can be no exemptions to this.

We expect local authorities to work closely with the schools in their areas to ensure schools contributing to the levy can access the funding for apprenticeship training and assessment in order to get the valuable skills they need.

There are already apprenticeships that schools can access, including for Teaching Assistants, business administration and early years. Employer-led groups are also currently developing high-quality apprenticeship standards specifically for schools, including a teaching apprenticeship and school business manager apprenticeships.

We recently published guidance for schools on apprenticeships, and how the apprenticeship levy and public sector apprenticeship target apply to schools in England on gov.uk available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/598603/Schools__guide_to_apprenticeship_reforms.pdf