Responding to overall first year public sector apprenticeship
target statistics, Cllr Sir Richard Leese, Chair of the Local
Government Association’s City Regions Board, said:
“Councils and combined authorities support the ambitious target
of creating 3 million apprenticeships by 2020.
“Making the most of the Apprenticeship Levy has been a challenge
for them on the ground with apprenticeship standards taking too
long to approve and progress being slowed down.
“Councils would need to hire the equivalent of the entire fire
service each year for four years to meet their public sector
target. This is at a time when councils continue to face
significant and ongoing funding pressures and headcounts
falling.
“The Budget contained a number of important changes but the
Government needs to ensure they result in the overall
apprenticeship reforms being coherent and making sense on the
ground.
“The Government should use its upcoming review of the
Apprenticeship Levy to give employers the power to use it more
flexibly to fund some of the cost of maintaining an
apprenticeship programme, extend the two-year expiry date on Levy
funds where key standards for Local Authorities are still in
development and allow local areas to retain Levy underspends
rather than handing them back to the Treasury.
“Devolving apprenticeship funding to the local areas in which
they are used is ultimately the best way to allow combined
authorities and councils, schools, colleges and employers to work
together to help people get the skills they need to progress in
work, and supply businesses with the right skills at the right
time to help local economies grow.”
