Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what total amount his Department has granted in the form of Apprenticeship Incentive Grants in (a) the North West, (b) Lancashire and (c) Pendle in each of the last three years.

The Apprenticeship Grant for Employers 16-24 (AGE) provides additional funding for employers who would not otherwise be in a position to so, to recruit individuals aged 16 to 24 through the apprenticeship programme on to apprenticeship frameworks.

Eligible employers are those with fewer than 50 employees, who are new to apprenticeships or have not enrolled an apprentice in the previous 12 months. Employers can be paid up to 5 grants in total. £1500 is paid to the employer for each young apprentice.

For some areas the grant is now managed locally and eligibility criteria may be different to those set out here. This is now the case for Greater Manchester, Sheffield City Region and for West Yorkshire Combined Authority from August 2015. We do not hold data for grants distributed by combined authorities.

The table below provides a breakdown of the monetary value of AGE 16-24 paid to employers for the period February 2012 to January 2015. This is for the North West (England), Lancashire, Pendle and England. The figures used are based on apprentices’ post codes.

In addition to AGE, incentive payments are available to eligible employers who employ apprentices on one of the new apprenticeship standards. Data is not yet available on this funding trial.