Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many small and medium-sized businesses offered apprenticeships using funding not drawn on by larger businesses under the apprenticeship levy in each of the last three years.

The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the department’s reforms, incentivising larger businesses to develop apprenticeship programmes or support their supply chains to employ apprentices. The money that levy-payers do not draw on is used to fund apprenticeship training in small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), so all companies can benefit from training apprentices. The introduction of the levy has enabled the government to grow investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year.

The department publishes statistics on apprenticeship starts by enterprise size, with latest figures showing starts up to the 2020/21 academic year. SMEs typically do not pay the levy and will benefit from the funds that levy-payers do not use. These statistics are published on GOV.UK at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics.