Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what criteria he plans to apply when assessing which businesses will be required to pay the new apprenticeship levy.

Employer investment in skills has been a problem since the 1990s and it needs to change. Large companies will now have direct control via the digital apprenticeship voucher and firms that are committed to training will be able to get back more than the put in. Further details will be set at the Spending Review following a formal engagement with business.