Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of excluding agency workers from the pay bill when determining a company's liability for paying the Apprenticeship Levy due to such workers' ineligibility for apprenticeships.

Where an employment agency supplies labour to a client and pays Class 1 secondary National Insurance contributions for those workers, they will be liable to pay the levy, providing their annual pay bill exceeds £3million.

The government recognises the important contribution that contingent labour makes to the economy, however, excluding agency workers would create adverse incentives to hire all staff off-payroll.

The government will support all employers in using the levy funds to invest in apprenticeships and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills is working with employers to create apprenticeships across all sectors.