Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 April 2019 to Question 243420, what data the Government uses to determine the number of (a) apprenticeships delivered in each sector and (b) apprenticeship levy funded apprenticeships delivered in each sector; and if he will make a statement.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency does not require levy-paying employers to document their industry sector when registering an apprenticeship service account, neither does it require employers who do not pay the levy to register an industry sector before training their apprentices.

For the period covering the 2012/13 to 2016/17 academic years, the Department for Education used the Individualised Learner Record (ILR) matched with the Inter-Departmental Business Register to determine the number of apprenticeship starts in each industry sector. This information is published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics. Figures for the 2017/18 academic year are planned to be published in Autumn 2019.

The department also uses data from the apprenticeship service and the ILR to obtain figures on the number of levy and non-levy supported apprenticeship starts broken down by apprenticeship sector subject area. The latest statistics covering sector subject area breakdowns for apprenticeship starts are available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/further-education-and-skills-statistical-first-release-sfr.