Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how much they spent on apprenticeships in total in each of the financial years (1) 2016–17, (2) 2017–18, (3) 2018–19, (4) 2019–20, (5) 2020–21, and (6) 2021–22.

The apprenticeships budget is used to fund training and assessment for new apprenticeship starts for all employers in England, to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training and any additional payments made to employers, providers, and apprentices.

The annual apprenticeship budget is set by HM Treasury (HMT). The table below shows the department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget, and the total apprenticeships spend in England from the 2016/17 financial year to the 2021/22 financial year. This reflects the impact of the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy in April 2017 on increasing investment in apprenticeships and shows that in the 2021/22 financial year, 99.6% of the budget in England was spent, with only £11 million unspent. Apprenticeships are an employer-led programme, and as is usual practice, any underspends in overall departmental budgets by the end of the financial year are first returned to HMT, as per the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance.

The Department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget and total apprenticeships spend for the 2016/17 to 2021/22 financial years: