Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the value of Apprenticeship Levy funds expiring from employers' accounts was in May 2019; and what plans the Government has for those funds.

The amount of funds entering employers’ digital apprenticeship service accounts in May 2017 was £135 million, of which £11 million in unspent funds expired in May 2019. This was the first month of expiry of funds.

As well as funding apprenticeships in levy-paying employers, levy contributions are also used to fund training for existing apprenticeship learners and new apprenticeships in non- levy paying employers. We do not anticipate that all employers who pay the levy will need or want to use all the funds in their accounts, however they are able to.