Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what support they are providing for employer-college apprenticeship collaborations and how they plan to extend this support.

Skills is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

The government provides a range of support to help employers and training providers, including colleges, to offer apprenticeships.

Government pays 100% of apprentice training costs for employers who do not pay the levy when they take on apprentices aged 16-21, and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan or have been, or are, in local authority care. For all other apprentices, government pays 95% of training costs for employers that don’t pay the levy.

The government pays £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16-18, and for apprentices aged 19-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan or have been, or are, in local authority care.

In August, the government launched the first new foundation apprenticeships which are underpinned by an employer incentive payment of £2,000. This will be paid in three instalments, the first two spread across the foundation apprenticeship, with the final payment made when an apprentice progresses onto their next apprenticeship.

In addition, the government continues to simplify the apprenticeship system to make it easier for employers and providers to focus on delivering high-quality training. This includes reforms to the apprenticeship payment system which will cut red tape by stopping the need for providers to log the same data multiple times, and the introduction of a one click employer onboarding process which allows providers to complete the setup for an employer, who can then approve it in a single step.