NHS Trusts: Apprentices

(asked on 18th April 2017) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS Trusts are required to pay the apprenticeship levy; how much in total NHS Trusts will pay; in which areas of employment NHS Trusts will create apprenticeships in the next two years; and how many apprenticeships NHS Trusts will create.


Answered by
Philip Dunne Portrait
Philip Dunne
This question was answered on 24th April 2017

The new Apprenticeship Levy came into operation in April 2017 for employers with a with a pay bill over £3 million each year and is set at 0.5% of pay bill. All National Health Service trusts will come within scope for paying the apprentice levy, with an estimated total NHS levy contribution of up to £200 million in 2017/18.

Doncaster and Bassetlaw will come within scope to pay the apprentice levy.

NHS trusts can employ apprentices in a range of clinical and non-clinical roles in the next two years including nursing, healthcare science, dental nursing, healthcare support worker, ambulance practitioner accountancy, business administration, digital and technology roles.

New apprenticeship roles are in development across a range of regulated healthcare professions including, the new Nursing Associate role, Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, Paramedic and Social Worker.

The new Public Sector Apprentice Target applies to public sector bodies with 250 or more staff in England and requires a minimum of 2.3% new apprentice starts each year based on the headcount of employees. The total NHS apprentice target is estimated as 27,500 in 2017/18.

Latest information from NHS Digital indicates that Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust directly employs 6,497 headcount people. The Department estimates Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals would need to employ 149 apprentices in 2017/18 to meet the Public Sector Apprentice Target.

Reticulating Splines