Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2019 to Question 243426 on apprenticeships: Taxation, what steps his Department is taking to increase the amount of apprenticeship levy funds that employers are using; and if he will make a statement.

We continue to work with levy-paying employers to make sure that they can make the most of the opportunities that our reforms present, and we’ve responded to their feedback. In April 2019, we increased the amount that levy-payers can transfer to smaller employers or other organisations from 10 to 25% of their funds each year, helping them use their levy funds to support apprenticeship starts in their supply chain or meet local skills shortages.

The number of employer-designed apprenticeship standards available now stands at 440, giving employers more choice than ever and allowing them to spend their levy funds to develop the skills they need.

Since April 2016, we have provided ongoing face-to-face support for over 1,100 of the largest levy-paying employers through our national account managers. Since April 2018, we have extended support over the phone to a further 3,500 large levy-paying employers. Our support focuses on helping these businesses to build large-scale, high-quality programmes that deliver a return on their investment.

We have also led a major awareness-raising campaign among the remaining levy-paying employers, raising awareness of the opportunity to utilise their investment and helping them understand how to use transfers.