Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase the level of apprenticeships funding for people aged 18 to 25.

Funding for apprenticeships in England will grow to £2.7 billion by the 2024-25 financial year to support apprenticeships in all employers, including employers that do not pay the levy who will continue to be able to reserve funding for 95% of apprenticeship training and assessment costs. In the 2020-21 financial year we have spent £835 million on new and continuing apprentices for people aged between 18 and 25.

Employers take the decisions about who they recruit as an apprentice, and which type and level of apprenticeship they offer. We will continue to provide additional funding to employers and training providers to support them to take on young apprentices. We offer employers and training providers an additional £1,000 so they can deliver effective support to each 16 to 18 year old apprentice they take on, or 19 to 24 year old apprentices who either have an education, health and care plan or have been in the care of their local authority. We also make it more attractive for the smallest employers (those with fewer than 50 staff) across the country to employ an apprentice by paying 100% of apprenticeship training and assessment costs. Alongside this, we are encouraging all employers to create new apprenticeship opportunities through the £3,000 employer incentive for hiring any new apprentices. This incentive payment has been extended until the end of January 2022.