Part 4: Apprenticeships Section 26: Apprenticeships: Data sharing and payments to employers
The Government is establishing a Digital Apprenticeship Service in England, to be operating from April 2017 to help employers to choose and pay for training courses. To make the Service work, the Government wants to align the amount of an employer’s funds available for apprenticeship training to the amount of levy such employer has paid. This section inserts new sections 40A to 40D into the 2009 Act. Section 40A will establish data sharing gateways to enable HMRC and the Secretary of State to exchange information on levy payments due from employers and carry out necessary administrative checks. This information will enable the Digital Apprenticeship Service to show in employers’ accounts the amount of funding they are entitled to, based on their levy payments.
	As the levy will be imposed across the UK, section 40B will enable HMRC and devolved authorities to exchange similar information about levy payments, so this data can be used in relation to devolved apprenticeship programmes. Section 40C introduces a criminal sanction for wrongful disclosure (under section 19 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005) of data obtained under the gateways.