Oral Evidence May. 08 2024
Inquiry: Energy bills for domestic customersFound: That could be taken out of standing charges and put into general taxation, or through another form
Oral Evidence May. 08 2024
Inquiry: Energy bills for domestic customersFound: That could be taken out of standing charges and put into general taxation, or through another form
Found: In Canada, for example, there are 10 provinces that have wide ranging powers in areas including taxation
Written Evidence Apr. 29 2024
Committee: Public Accounts CommitteeFound: Since 2021 we have hired over 1,000 apprentices, with an ongoing commitment to hiring an apprentice
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to change the apprenticeship levy and to grant firms more flexibility to use funds from the levy to skill up their workforce.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The apprenticeship levy supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training, both for career starters as well as those looking to upskill or retrain.
The success of the levy is enabling the department to invest £2.7 billion in apprenticeships in England in the 2024/25 financial year, and means that 98% of the English apprenticeships budget was spent over the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years. It is important that this funding remains protected to support apprenticeships. The government has no current plans to allow employers to spend the funds available to them on non-apprenticeships training. Allowing employers to use 50% of funds for non-apprenticeship training could create an additional cost of up to £1.5 billion a year. Without additional investment this could reduce apprenticeship starts to 140,000 a year, which would represent an almost 60% decrease on the 2022/23 academic year.
This month the department increased the proportion of the funds that levy-paying employers can transfer from 25% to 50%. This gives levy-paying employers even greater flexibility in how they use the funds available to them while also supporting more apprenticeships in other businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises, flexi-job apprenticeship agencies and charities.
Employers can choose from almost 700 high-quality apprenticeships and have the option of using flexible training models, such as flexi-job apprenticeships and accelerated apprenticeships. Employers can also access other government-funded skills programmes, including T Levels and Skills Bootcamps.
Correspondence Apr. 26 2024
Committee: Liaison Committee (Lords)Found: It is not adequately serving young people or apprentices retraining later in life.
Mentions:
1: Yousaf, Humza (SNP - Glasgow Pollok) Anas Sarwar used to believe in progressive taxation; he now supports tax cuts for the wealthy at the - Speech Link
2: Whittle, Brian (Con - South Scotland) However, there is a severe shortage of apprentices. - Speech Link
3: Yousaf, Humza (SNP - Glasgow Pollok) Whittle for making a suggestion that is well worth exploring, in particular in relation to funding for apprentices - Speech Link
4: Harper, Emma (SNP - South Scotland) be somewhat at odds with the warnings from the Tories and even some Labour members that progressive taxation - Speech Link
Oral Evidence Apr. 24 2024
Committee: Energy Security and Net Zero CommitteeFound: Whether it is through taxation or their energy bill, the customers —your electors, my consumers, if
Oral Evidence Apr. 23 2024
Inquiry: Skills for the future: apprenticeships and trainingFound: The most important thing, of course, is that over 90% of apprentices who complete get good skilled
Asked by: Jonathan Gullis (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of apprenticeship levy networks in improving small businesses’ access to apprenticeship levy funding.
Answered by Luke Hall - Minister of State (Education)
The apprenticeship levy supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. Transfers are a great way for large employers to use their levy funds to support apprenticeships in other businesses, including small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), flexi-job apprenticeship agencies and charities, to help meet local or sector skills needs. This could include businesses in their supply chain.
The department continues to promote the benefits of levy transfers and has increased the proportion of their funds that levy-paying employers can transfer to support more apprenticeships in other businesses from 25% to 50%. This will help SMEs hire more apprentices by reducing their costs and enabling them to benefit from the support and experience that larger employers can provide.
Hundreds of large levy-paying employers have already taken advantage of the opportunity to transfer their unused levy funds to other businesses. Since September 2021 over 550 employers, including ASDA, HomeServe, and BT Group, have pledged to transfer over £37 million to support apprenticeships in businesses of all sizes. It is also encouraging to see regional schemes to support local businesses through transfers, including in the West Midlands.
SMEs can also access funding directly from the apprenticeships budget. The department has increased investment in the apprenticeships system in England to over £2.7 billion this financial year to support employers of all sizes, including SMEs. In addition, last year, the department removed the limit to the number of apprentices that SMEs can take on, making it easier for them to grow their businesses. This has already benefitted almost 350 SMEs. The department also now fully funds the costs of training and assessment for new apprentices aged 16 to 21 in small businesses.