Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of any benefits of bringing the creative industries’ current voluntary training and skills levy within the scope of the Apprenticeship Levy.

The creative industry voluntary training levies, managed by ScreenSkills, and the apprenticeships levy cover different things. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to bring the creative industries’ current voluntary levy into the scope of the apprenticeship levy.

The apprenticeship levy is specifically used to fund high quality apprenticeship training and end-point assessment across all sectors. The creative industry voluntary levies can be spent on a wide range of specialist training, including help with associated costs such as travel, accommodation and childcare. The voluntary levies operate across film, high-end television, animation and children’s television as part of the tax incentive regime for these sectors.

The apprenticeship levy only affects around 2% of employers and the majority of the creative sector do not pay it. Instead, they can benefit from government investment covering at least 90% of training costs. This will rise to 95% in 2019.