Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to collate data in order to assess the amount of apprenticeship levy money that was (1) paid, and (2) spent on apprenticeships, by creative industry companies in the 2018/19 financial year.

The information requested is not held centrally. The apprenticeship levy is collected by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs from employers with a pay bill in excess of £3 million per year.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) does not require levy-paying employers to register a sector when they set up an online apprenticeship service account to manage their funds. Therefore, ESFA are unable to supply information on the sectoral distribution of spending on apprenticeships. There are currently no plans to change the registration process to collect this information from employers registering for an apprenticeship service account.

We continue to use detailed data on apprenticeship starts (including levy-supported starts) and work closely with employers and sector bodies to further develop our understanding of how apprenticeships work for the creative sector.

The quarterly ‘Apprenticeships and Traineeships’ data release provides an overview of the programme. The most recent update was published on 11 July 2019. All quarterly data releases include a ‘main commentary’ which summarises apprenticeship starts by level, framework or standard, and whether or not they were the levy-supported. This commentary has been attached and it available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/815291/Apprenticeships_and_Traineeships_release_July19_main_text.pdf. The whole quarterly release is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships-july-2019.

Data on apprenticeship starts by sector subject area and funding type can be compared using the interactive pivot tool entitled ‘Monthly apprenticeship starts by sector subject area, framework or standard, age, level, funding type and degree apprenticeship’ found in the monthly ‘Apprenticeships and levy statistics’ release. This was last updated in May 2019 and available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804343/Monthly-apprenticeship-starts-fwk-tool_May-2019.xlsx. The whole monthly release is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeship-and-levy-statistics-may-2019.

We are working closely with employers in the creative industries so they can realise the benefits of apprenticeships. The Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport is developing an innovative pilot which will enable apprentices to benefit from hands-on experience on the sets of major films and television shows. Launching later this year, it will explore a new model that fulfils the requirements of high-quality apprenticeships, but uses multiple placements on film and television productions, as well as addressing skills shortages.