Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of trends in apprenticeship starts since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in April 2017.

There have been over 1.2 million apprenticeship starts since May 2015 and we want to achieve three million apprenticeship starts in England by 2020. We have published progress on numbers of apprenticeships starts within the department’s further education and skills statistical first release. The first quarterly release for the 2017/18 academic year is attached.

The previous year has seen significant changes for employers. We continue to work with employers to adjust and refine the levy. Employers have two years to spend their levy funds, and feedback shows that they are taking their time to plan high quality apprenticeship training that meets their specific needs.

Our reforms put quality at the heart of the apprenticeship programme and increase investment and engagement in training employers’ workforces for the future.