Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of the apprenticeship levy in 2021–22 was (1) spent by levy payers on apprenticeships in their own organisations, (2) handed down to supply chain firms to spend on apprenticeships, and (3) spent by His Majesty’s Government on apprenticeships training for SMEs.

The UK Government, via HM Revenue and Customs, collects an apprenticeship levy of 0.5% on total payroll from businesses across the UK with an annual payroll expenditure of more than £3 million.

From this, HM Treasury sets an English apprenticeships budget for the department, and the devolved governments receive a share of the funding calculated using the Barnett formula.

The apprenticeships budget in England is used to fund training and assessment for new apprenticeship starts for all employers of all sizes, both those who pay the levy and those who do not, and to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training and any additional payments made to employers, providers and apprentices. The department’s apprenticeship budget for the 2021/22 financial year was £2,466 million and total spend was £2,455 million, meaning 99.6% of the apprenticeships budget was spent.

The table below shows the percentage of the apprenticeship spend against the budget by levy payers and non-levy payers in the 2021/22 financial year, including the percentage spend by levy paying employers through levy transfers to other employers. It also reflects the spend on apprenticeships that started prior to the introduction of the apprenticeship levy reform, and non-apprenticeships training, such as the cost of running the apprenticeship service, marketing, and communications campaigns.