Asked by: Baroness Randerson (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they intend to review the Apprenticeship Levy; what assessment they have made of any imbalance between (1) the amount paid by logistics and transport businesses since its introduction, and (2) the amount they have been entitled to withdraw; and whether they have plans to replace it with a more flexible training levy.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
While the Apprenticeship Levy is UK wide, apprenticeship policy and spending is devolved, meaning the devolved administrations receive funding through the Barnett formula on English apprenticeship spending. A comparison between UK-wide Levy receipts and apprenticeship spend in England is not available and we are therefore unable to provide an assessment of the difference between the amount paid and available levy funds for the logistics and transport sectors.
The Apprenticeship Levy is a key part of the Government’s reforms to the apprenticeship system, which enables employers of all sizes to make a long-term, sustainable and high-quality investment in training. There are no plans to reform the Apprenticeship Levy or replace it with a more flexible training Levy at this time. We are committed to protecting the quality of apprenticeship training and simplifying our system and processes so that employers and providers can focus on delivering high-quality apprenticeships.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total amount of apprenticeship levy unspent and returned to the Treasury in each of the past five years.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training.
The government, via HM Revenue and Customs, collects the apprenticeship levy of 0.5% on total payroll from businesses across the UK with a payroll of more than £3 million. From this, HM Treasury (HMT) sets an English apprenticeships budget for the department. The apprenticeships levy is UK wide, and income from the levy also supports the devolved administrations to invest in their skills programmes.
The department’s apprenticeships budget is used to fund training and assessment for new apprenticeship starts in all employers, levy and non-levy paying employers alike, across England, and to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training and any additional payments made to employers and providers. This means that levy payers’ unspent funds are used to support additional costs and apprenticeships in smaller employers
The table below shows the department’s ring-fenced apprenticeships budget and spend together with budget underspends for the last five financial years (FY).
(£ million) | FY 18/19 | FY 19/20 | FY 20/21 | FY 21/22 | FY 22/23 |
DfE Ring-fence Apprenticeships Budget | £2,321m | £2,469m | £2,467m | £2,466m | £2,554m |
Total Ring-fence Apprenticeship Spend | £1,738m | £1,919m | £1,863 | £2,455 | £2,458m |
Underspends against Ring-fenced Apprenticeships Budget | £493m | £550m | £604m | £11m | £96m |
In the last two financial years, on average, 98% of the English apprenticeships budget was spent.
Any underspends in overall departmental budgets by the end of the FY are first returned to HMT, as per the Consolidated Budgeting Guidance. As employers choose which apprenticeships they offer and when, annual spend of the apprenticeship budget is subject to employer demand.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much money was (a) raised by and (b) unspent from school organisations eligible to pay the apprenticeship levy in the (i) 2021-22 and (ii) 2022-23 academic years.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training.
As employers, schools and recruitment agencies with a pay bill of £3 million or more will pay the apprenticeship levy, which is reported to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) via the Pay As You Earn scheme. HMRC holds the data on levy contributions and publish data on tax receipts here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmrc-tax-and-nics-receipts-for-the-uk.
While levy-paying employers access their levy funding through their apprenticeship service accounts the department does not record their industry, sector or organisation type when they register an apprenticeship service account. For this reason, we are unable to provide data which shows the amount of levy funds entering the accounts of schools or recruitment agencies, or the proportion of that total which has been spent.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much was raised by the apprenticeships levy in the 2022/2023 academic year.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Monthly receipts data for the Apprenticeship Levy is published by HM Revenue and Customs in their Tax and NIC Receipts publication which can be found online at:
HMRC tax receipts and National Insurance contributions for the UK - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
Asked by: Baroness Wolf of Dulwich (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many organisations were liable for the apprenticeship levy in (1) 2018, (2) 2019, (3) 2020, (4) 2021, and (5) 2022.
Answered by Baroness Penn - Minister on Leave (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State)
Please find a table of the estimated number of employers paying the Apprenticeship Levy in each tax year below:
Tax Year | Number of Employers |
2017 to 18 | 32,200 |
2018 to 19 | 31,400 |
2019 to 20 | 30,600 |
2020 to 21 | 30,400 |
2021 to 22 | 33,400 |
Asked by: Toby Perkins (Labour - Chesterfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that the Apprenticeship Levy will raise in (a) 2022-23, (b) 2023-24 and (c) 2024-25.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The latest receipts forecast for the Apprenticeship Levy is published by Office for Budget Responsibility which can be found online at:
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2023 to Question 190584 on Apprentices: Taxation, how many students were studying at Level (a) 3 and (b) 4 and above in each of the last five years.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The data showing apprenticeship participation for the last five academic years is shown in the table below.
| 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 |
Advanced apprenticeship (level 3) | 372,430 | 356,150 | 338,680 | 326,380 | 330,410 |
Higher apprenticeship (level 4 and above) | 84,240 | 123,950 | 165,510 | 207,860 | 238,820 |
Notes:
(1) 2017/18 to 2021/22 figures cover full academic years volumes.
(2) Volumes are rounded to the nearest 10.
(3) Participation is the count of learners that participated at any point during the year. Learners undertaking more than one course will appear only once in the grand total.
(4) Participation at intermediate, advanced, and higher levels is a count of learners that participated at those levels at any point during the year. Learners undertaking more than one course will only appear once at each level but can appear in the count at more than one level.
Further apprenticeship statistics can be found in the ‘Apprenticeships and traineeships statistics’ publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2023 to Question 190594, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the return of apprenticeship levy funding to the Treasury.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system. It supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25, which is more than double what was spent on apprenticeships in 2010/11 in cash terms.
Employers choose which apprenticeships they offer and when, therefore total annual spend on apprenticeships depends on the choices made by employers. While the department has seen some underspends in the apprenticeship budget in previous years, this will not always be the case. In the 2021/22 financial year, 99.6% of the apprenticeship budget in England was spent, supporting employers of all sizes to build the skilled workforces they need.
Employers can now choose from over 670 high-quality apprenticeship standards in a variety of sectors to help meet their skills needs. The department also continues to encourage employers to make greater use of apprenticeships by introducing flexible training models like flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, which are making apprenticeships more accessible for all sectors. The department has also improved the transfer system to make it easier for levy paying employers to find other employers who wish to take on new apprentices with transferred funds.
As well as funding new apprenticeships in levy-paying employers, the English apprenticeships budget also supports new apprenticeships in employers that do not pay the levy, existing apprentices that started in previous years, English and mathematics tuition for apprentices and additional payments to employers, providers and apprentices.
Asked by: Emma Lewell-Buck (Labour - South Shields)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the proportion of the Apprenticeship Levy that has been spent on people studying at (a) Level 3 and (b) level 4 and above in each of the last 5 years.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. Employers have developed over 670 apprenticeship standards, including 220 at level 3 and 315 at levels 4 and above, to build the skilled workforces they need.
There have been over 5.4 million apprenticeship starts in England since 2010.
The apprenticeships budget in England is used to fund training and assessment for new apprenticeship starts in levy and non-levy paying employers, and to cover the ongoing costs of apprentices already in training and any additional payments made to employers and providers. The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by the 2024/25 financial year, and it is encouraging to see that in the 2021/22 financial year, 99.6% of the budget was spent.
The table below shows the total apprenticeships participation spend in England at level 3 and above from the 2017/18 academic year. This is the total spend for apprenticeships by both levy-paying and non-levy paying employers and includes apprenticeships started in previous years.
Apprenticeships participation spend (£ million) | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 | Level 6 | Level 7 |
2017/18 | 622 | 746 | 68 | 55 | 33 | 11 |
2018/19 | 557 | 838 | 120 | 100 | 78 | 57 |
2019/20 | 473 | 885 | 163 | 132 | 133 | 118 |
2020/21 | 378 | 848 | 192 | 156 | 203 | 186 |
2021/22 | 421 | 953 | 222 | 160 | 290 | 216 |
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Apprenticeship Levy for skills development.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The apprenticeship levy is an important part of the government’s reforms to create a high-quality, employer-led apprenticeships system, and it supports employers of all sizes to invest in high-quality apprenticeship training. The government does not currently have any plans to review the apprenticeship levy.
The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25 and have a range of work underway to support employers to use our high-quality apprenticeships to the build skilled workforces they need.
There are over 670 employer-designed apprenticeship standards currently available across all levels and sectors and we are encouraging flexible training models, like flexi-job and accelerated apprenticeships, so that employers can train their apprentices in the way that works best for them. We have also improved the levy transfer system to support levy paying employers to make fuller use of their levy funds.
We have removed the limit to the number of apprentices that small and medium-sized enterprises can take on and we continue to pay 95% of their apprenticeship training costs and 100% for the smallest employers when they take on younger apprentices, including those aged 16-to-18.
The department also wants to further accelerate the growth of higher and degree apprenticeships and encourage higher education providers to expand their existing offers or develop new ones. We are providing an additional £40 million over the next two years to support degree apprenticeship providers to expand and help more people access this provision, on top of our £8 million investment in 2022/23.