Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what proportion of the Department for Education's 2022–23 apprenticeship spend applied to new starts; and what proportion to ongoing costs for apprentices already in training, both (1) overall, and for (2) levy-payers and non-levy-payers separately.

The English apprenticeships budget for the 2022/23 financial year was £2,554 million. The total spend was £2,458 million meaning that 96% of the English apprenticeships budget was spent in the 2022/23 financial year.

In the 2022/23 financial year, 69% of the overall apprenticeships spend was spent on apprenticeships for levy paying employers and 29% was spent on apprenticeships for non-levy paying employers. This includes the spend on COVID-19 incentive payments made to employers recruiting new apprentices between August 2020 and January 2022. The remaining 2% was spent on the costs of running the apprenticeships programme.

31% of the department’s apprenticeships spend for the 2022/23 financial year supported new apprenticeship starts and 62% was spent on the ongoing costs of apprentices that had started in previous years.

22% of the department’s apprenticeships spend for the 2022/23 financial year supported new starts in levy paying employers and 43% was spent on the ongoing costs of apprenticeships in levy paying employers that had started in previous years.

9% of the department’s apprenticeships spend for the 2022/23 financial year supported new starts in non-levy paying employers and 18% was spent on the ongoing costs of apprenticeships in non-levy paying employers that had started in previous years.

Details of annual apprenticeships spend for the 2023/24 financial year is set out in the department’s annual report and accounts, which was published in July 2024 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/department-for-education-consolidated-annual-report-and-accounts-2023-to-2024.