Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of (a) single-school academy trusts, (b) multi-academy trusts, (c) foundation schools and (d) voluntary-aided schools were liable to pay the apprenticeship levy in each year since 2017 for which data is available.

The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training.

As employers, schools with a pay bill of £3 million or more will pay the apprenticeship levy, which is reported to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) via the Pay As You Earn scheme. HMRC hold the data on levy contributions and publish data on tax receipts here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk.

While levy-paying employers access their levy funding through their apprenticeship service accounts, we do not record their industry, sector or organisation type when they register an apprenticeship service account. For this reason, we are unable to provide data that shows the amount of levy funds entering the accounts of employers in the schools sector, or the proportion of that total which has been spent.

Information on the department’s annual apprenticeship budget and spend for 2021/22 is set out in the ESFA’s annual report and accounts: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/education-and-skills-funding-agency-esfa-annual-report-and-accounts-2021-to-2022.