MINUTES. Apprenticeships funding and standards. Tuesday 29 November pm, Committee Room 19, Houses of Parliament

Transcription

1 MINUTES Apprenticeships funding and standards Tuesday 29 November pm, Committee Room 19, Houses of Parliament 1. Introduction and welcome Catherine McKinnell MP, co-chair of the APPG Catherine McKinnell MP introduced herself as the newly elected co-chair of the Group and explained that apprenticeships is an issue she is passionate about. Shortly after being elected as an MP, she introduced a Ten Minute Rule Bill, the Apprenticeships and Skills (Public Procurement Contracts) Bill, which called for the introduction of the requirement on public sector contracts having a firm commitment to skills training and apprenticeships. She noted that this became Opposition policy and subsequently Government policy. She welcomed the Group s forward programme for the year and said that the topic of this meeting was an important one to start with. She introduced each of the speakers and invited them to address the Group: Sue Husband, Director, Apprenticeships and Delivery Service, Skills Funding Agency; Neil Carberry, Director, Employment and Skills, Confederation of British Industry; Tom Richmond, co-author of Policy Exchange s recent report The skills we need, and why we don t have them. 2. Sue Husband, Director, Apprenticeships and Delivery Service, Skills Funding Agency Sue Husband explained that as the Director of the Apprenticeships and Delivery Service she leads the work of the National Apprenticeship Service and the Skills Funding Agency s work in engaging employers and employer groups to increase participation in apprenticeships and traineeships. With four months to go before the implementation of the Apprenticeship Levy she outlined how it will deliver the Government s apprenticeships target, create a sustainable funding system for apprenticeships and deliver quality apprenticeships: Apprenticeships can address skills shortages and open doors for people in all parts of the UK, which is why the Government is driving the programme forward to expand 1

2 provision. The Institute for Apprenticeships will have a key role as a guarantor of quality and control and will oversee the programme to make sure that the apprenticeships being created are of good quality; Quality in apprenticeships is important because they need to be respected by employers, the apprentices that complete them, and wider society, otherwise employers will not want to invest in the Levy or use its funding. The Institute will ensure that employers help to generate apprenticeship standards by using panels of employers (with around 200 to 300 employers in total) to develop the quality marks. This will ensure that the expertise and experience of employers is built into the standards. Employer engagement in the apprenticeship programme is crucial. The SFA are working to make sure that employers are ready for the Levy s implementation, and are ready to use and spend the Levy funding wisely. They estimate that 22,000 employers will be paying into the levy, 400 of which will contribute half of the levy pot. It will also be important for training providers to support employers to deliver the extra apprenticeships and cater to the increased demand that the Levy will create. Finally, the Apprenticeships and Delivery Service will communicate clearly with stakeholders on how programme is running and how it will deliver for stakeholders. 3. Neil Carberry, Director, Employment and Skills, Confederation of British Industry Neil Carberry began by saying that the CBI believe that skills matter more than anything else to the success of UK s industrial strategy and prosperity. He said that currently the CBI s membership is either reporting that they are struggling to create enough training places to meet demand, or they are struggling to find enough apprenticeship candidates to fill places so clearly there is a problem with the current skills funding system. He said that the business community has generally welcomed the Levy, and expressed frustration that their concerns about the design of the policy had in the past been viewed by Government as opposition to the policy. He said that businesses will never be complete owners of the skills system, as unlike training providers they do other things beside training and skills development, but the Levy will provide a welcome opportunity for skills to be business lead. He welcomed the Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills, Rob Halfon s commitment to work with business on the delivery of the Government s apprenticeship target. He said that the CBI s membership has one plea, which is for transitional arrangements to be put in place so that businesses are given support navigating the new funding system to ensure they thrive in the new environment. Concluding, he outlined some issues which the CBI feels still need to be addressed: Not enough employers know they will have to pay the Levy, so there needs to be better communication with businesses; The Institute for Apprenticeships needs to be, and be seen to be, genuinely independent; 2

3 More focus on how the Levy can fund beneficial outcomes for people if the Levy is not delivering quality or progression then people will not advance into good careers. The CBI s view is that over time it should become a skills levy, rather than just for apprenticeships, but in either scenario it creates a motive for employers to invest in level 4 and 5 skills; Finally, he said the Government need to explain how the Levy arrangements will work in all parts of the UK, as England is the only country operating a draw-down system. 4. Tom Richmond, co-author of Policy Exchange s recent report The skills we need, and why we don t have them Tom Richmond is a teacher at a Sixth Form College and has spent almost a decade working on education, skills and welfare policy. From 2013 to 2015, he was a senior advisor to Skills Ministers Nick Boles and Matthew Hancock on vocational education and skills policy, including advising on the development of apprenticeship policy during this time. Tom summarised the findings of Policy Exchange s recent report, The skills we need, and why we don t have them, which calls for a stronger focus on quality alongside reaching the apprenticeship target. He argued that while the Government and industry supported high quality apprentices, the reality is that there are a high amount of poor quality apprenticeships. This was due to inconsistent standards and a lack of quality control, which he said did not inspire trust in the standards coming through. He outlined some potential problems with the Levy: Employers will relabel low skill and low wage training as apprenticeships; Employers may rebrand their existing training provision as apprenticeships; Employers may draw down on levy money for internal training, instead of using the Levy funding to create new apprenticeships. Concluding, he summarised the report s recommendations for the Government: The definition of apprenticeship needs to be made clearer; Levy funding to be flexible and allowed to be applied to other kinds of training; The introduction of a new high level quality target for the apprenticeships programme alongside the existing focus on quantity, creating a Numbers Plus approach to future apprenticeships; A beefed up Institute for Apprenticeships to become the guarantor of quality and the voice of employers; The qualifications regulator, Ofqual to have a duty to set the standards for the assessment of future apprenticeships. 3

4 5. Q&A Catherine McKinnell MP thanked the speakers and opened the floor to questions and comments. Mark Dawe, Chief Executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, reiterated the importance of provider readiness for the implementation of the Levy. Iain McIlwee, Chief Executive of the British Woodworking Federation, expressed concern that the funding allocated by the Levy is not properly aligned with the cost of providing the apprenticeship in some sectors, which he feared would lead to the cannibalisation of qualifications. Lord Aberdare, Vice-Chair of the APPG said that he liked the idea of widening the Levy s use for other skills training (with the necessary protections), and he also welcomed the Government s commitment to allow training providers to use Levy funding from He expressed concerns about end point assessment, and that the Levy appeared to offer no incentive for businesses in devolved regions to invest in it. Catherine McKinnell MP asked the panel of speakers whether the Levy will help to tackle variations in affluence and disadvantage between different regions of the UK. Sue Husband said that the Institute will increase the participation from groups which have previously had low participation rates in apprenticeships, such as the BAME community and individuals from disadvantaged areas. On employer readiness, she said that the pace of the reforms was the cause of difficulty rather than the reforms themselves. On end point assessment, she said that this is a key priority for the Institute for Apprenticeships and the Apprenticeships and Delivery Service is currently looking into making sure this will work. Jon Graham, Chief Executive of JTL asked how the funding reforms will address skills gaps in different industries, particularly industries with lots of SMEs. He said that many SMEs will need a commitment from the Government that they will not lose out on Levy funding if they agree to take on more apprentices. Lindsay McCurdy, CEO of Apprenticeships4england and Baroness Garden of Frognall, Vice- Chair of the APPG both asked how to encourage more young people leaving school to consider an apprenticeship as an alternative to a university degree. Baroness Garden highlighted the reluctance of schools to promote apprenticeships as the path to a fulfilling career over the traditional university route. She also asked the panel for their views on reinstating individual learning accounts to fund skills training. Nigel Hollet, Chief Executive of Summit Skills asked how the Institute will communicate and explain the policy changes to employers in the devolved nations. Dinah Caine, CEO of Creative Skillset said that Brexit had placed an even greater importance on developing the UK s skills pipeline, and asked whether Brexit presented an opportunity to revise the Levy now that it no longer has to conform to EU rules on state aid. 4

5 Finally, Jon Richards, Head of Education for UNISON said that job substitution is a concern of UNISON s members, where existing roles are relabelled as apprenticeships. 6. Concluding remarks Catherine McKinell MP thanked the speakers and the attendees for the discussion. 5