Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of changes in the level of apprenticeship starts on the financial sustainability of (a) employers that are paying the Apprenticeship Levy and (b) training providers.

For employers that pay the apprenticeship levy, the number of starts affects the amount of funds in their apprenticeship service accounts. Employers have two years to spend their apprenticeship service funds and we are working with them to help plan their programmes and their investment in apprentices.

We continue to monitor the impact of the funding reforms on the training provider market. This includes reviewing and assessing the financial health of all providers who contract with the Education and Skills Funding Agency as new financial information becomes available.