Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the policy at paragraph 2.14 of the July 2020 Plan for Jobs CP 261.

The government will introduce a new payment of £2,000 to employers in England for each new apprentice they hire aged under 25, and a £1,500 payment for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over, from 1st August 2020 to 31st January 2021. Table 1 of the Plan for Jobs shows the level of fiscal support available including £1.6 billion for boosting worksearch, skills and apprenticeships. This includes the indicative cost of 100,000 incentive payments for new apprenticeship hires. The final costs will depend on the number of new apprentices hired.