Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what measures they are putting in place to increase the proportion of small and medium-sized enterprises which take on apprentices.

The Apprenticeship Grant for Employers provides £1,500 to help smaller employers recruit a new apprentice aged 16 to 24. We have made £170m additional funding available over 2014-16 financial years to fund over 100,000 additional incentive payments. Provisional figures show that between Feb 2012 and July 2014 there were 95,200 apprenticeship starts for which a payment was made through the AGE Grant. A further 8,200 were in the pipeline (started but not yet paid).

Apprenticeship reforms are putting employers in the lead of designing apprenticeships, making it easier and more attractive for them to offer more in the future. Funding reforms will also provide a financial incentive to support smaller businesses taking on an apprentice.