Apprentices: Arts

(asked on 28th March 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support micro-businesses in the creative industries in providing apprenticeships.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Agnew of Oulton
This question was answered on 13th April 2018

We regularly publish data on apprenticeships, which can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/further-education-and-skills-statistical-first-release-sfr. This includes analysis of the number of apprenticeship starts by Sector Subject Area (SSA). Our most recent statistical release shows that starts in the Arts, Media and Publishing SSA have increased 14% on the year, though employers in the creatives industries will also hire apprentices in other SSAs.

The Department for Education works closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to understand the impact of the apprenticeship reforms on the creative industries. As part of this, we have committed to inviting an employer representative from the creative industries to sit on our Apprenticeship Stakeholder Board.

Government provides generous funding to smaller employers who do not pay the levy. Non-levy payers must co-invest only 10% of the costs of apprentice training and assessment in order to access 90% government funding. For micro-businesses with less than 50 employees, the 10% co-investment is waived when they hire a 16-18 year old apprentice or a 19-24 year old apprentice who is a care leaver or who has an Education, Health and Care Plan.

Our communications and engagement work helps to make sure that as many employers of all sizes are aware of the apprenticeship reforms and the benefits of taking on an apprentice. Over 40,000 employers have visited our Get in Go Far website since the current phase of the campaign launched in January, and there have been over 1.4 million views of our adverts on social media. Our national employer helpline is open all year round.

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