Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what annual financial allowances they provide to apprentices in the manufacturing sector.

In the 2021-22 financial year funding available for investment in apprenticeships in England is almost £2.5 billion, double what was spent in the 2010-11 financial year. Employers of all sizes can access funding for apprenticeship training and assessment. There is no ring-fenced annual apprenticeship budget for any individual sector, such as the manufacturing sector.

Employers in all sectors are able to choose which apprenticeships they offer, and when, in order to meet their skills needs. There are over 140 high-quality employer-designed apprenticeship standards in the engineering and manufacturing sector available for employers to use, including the level 3 print technician standard and the level 5 food and drink engineer standard. In the 2019/20 academic year, there were 52,000 apprenticeship starts in the engineering and manufacturing technologies sector.

To help employers in all sectors to offer new apprenticeships, employers can claim a £3,000 incentive payment for each apprentice they take on as a new employee until 30 September, as part of the government’s Plan for Jobs. This is paid in addition to the funding available to employers for training and assessing apprentices, and the extra payments we already make to support employers and providers meet the needs of the youngest apprentices and those with an Education, Health and Care Plan. Individual employers can choose how to spend the incentive payment to support their apprentices, including meeting any of the costs associated with supporting a new apprentice in the workplace, such as uniforms or travel costs.