Asked by Lord Aberdare To ask Her Majesty’s Government what
assessment they have made of the impact of the introduction of the
new system of apprenticeship training on both public and private
training providers. Viscount Younger of Leckie (Con) My
Lords, we are implementing a range of reforms to continue to
improve the quality of...Request free
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Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have
made of the impact of the introduction of the new system of
apprenticeship training on both public and private training
providers.
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(Con)
My Lords, we are implementing a range of reforms to
continue to improve the quality of apprenticeships for all,
ensuring employers can access the training and skills they
need. We recognise that our reforms have resulted in a
number of changes for apprenticeship training providers. We
are keeping the impact of the reforms under review and we
continue to work closely with providers and their
representative bodies.
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(CB)
My Lords, independent training providers deliver
three-quarters of all apprenticeships, especially for
non-levy-paying employers, many of them SMES, and for 16 to
18 year-olds. The current funding system gives them no
certainty about how many apprenticeships they will be able
to offer. Will the Minister and his colleagues look at
renewing and adapting the system so that providers can plan
with confidence to support SMEs in providing the
apprenticeships that young people and the nation need to
drive up skills and productivity and, indeed, to meet the
Government’s own targets?
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The noble Lord is right, in that we do recognise this is a
period of uncertainty for providers. The Education &
Training Foundation is running a programme specifically to
help the ITPs prepare for the transition and change. The
Government are also making available £440 million for
non-levy-paying employers, to cover the costs of new starts
during the transitional period from January 2018 —that is
until all employers use the new apprenticeship service, from
April 2019. The SMEs are also very important for our economy
and the Government are paying 90% of the training and
assessment costs for 16 to 18 year-old apprenticeships in
this area.
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(LD)
Does the Minister agree that, given the industrial strategy,
Brexit, technological advancement and low productivity, there
has never been a more urgent need to address and sort out our
skills shortages? But apprenticeship registrations have
fallen off a cliff because businesses—large and small—do not
like the changes the Government are introducing. Is it not
time to cut the business world a bit of slack and let them
use their own money, raked in through the levy, in a more
flexible way to address their actual training needs, and not
force all the levy money into an apprenticeship straitjacket
which serves little purpose, other than saving the
Government’s face in its boast of creating 3 million
apprenticeships?
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My Lords, it is not a boast; it is a clear aim. As the House
will know, a great deal of emphasis has been put on training
and skills in the industrial strategy document. On the demand
for apprenticeships, it is true that there has been a 59%
fall-off, but that is not the whole story because between
March and May there was a 47% increase, so the net decline
was 2.8%. However, the overall picture—for which there is
anecdotal evidence—is that over the next 24 months employers
are looking to bed in the changes, and they are working very
hard to do so.
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(Lab)
My Lords, although it is probable that many large employers
are perfectly content to see the Government do as much as
they can to encourage apprenticeships, is the noble Viscount
aware that in some sectors—I particularly refer him to the
creative industries—the apprenticeship levy does not work
terribly well? Those sectors do not resist paying the levy,
obviously, but they do not find it particularly helpful
because of the inflexible way the benefits from it can be
accessed by larger employers who pay it. Looking to the
future, and building on the question from the Liberal
Democrat Benches, is there a rather more flexible way large
employers can develop their own apprenticeship schemes?
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The noble Baroness makes an interesting point but we believe
that there is enough flexibility in the system. A lot of work
is being done with the Institute for Apprenticeships and with
employers on the design of apprenticeships to ensure that the
approach and the job descriptions are correct for the
individual sectors. I know that the noble Baroness has a lot
of experience in the creative sectors, which we are looking
at very closely.
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(LD)
My Lords, is the Minister aware that in Bradford a social
housing association runs an excellent training scheme for the
building trades? It took 10 people this year and has had 400
applications. When there is so much unfulfilled
demand—particularly from what we have to call the white
working class—obviously there is still something wrong. I am
told that in Yorkshire the big building companies still
prefer to recruit already-trained people from outside Britain
rather than go to the expense and trouble of doing their own
training. That is clearly a major problem. Can the Government
assure us that the new apprenticeship levy will push
companies like that into training our own people?
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I hope I can give the noble Lord that assurance. The
construction sector is particularly important. Regarding the
temporary drop that we have seen, 3,000 apprenticeship
vacancies have been posted this month by 40 employers. So I
think this comes back to the point that employers are taking
their time—which they need to do—working with HMRC and the
Treasury to bed in these new changes.
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(Con)
My Lords, is the Minister aware that the number of
apprenticeships for those aged 16 to 18 declined this year,
as they did last year? These are the important ages for
apprenticeships, and that decline will persist if the
Government continue their school education policy of
eliminating all technical education below the age of 16. If
they do that, very few students at 16 will want to take an
apprenticeship. He has to join up apprenticeships with the
education policy and try to get it changed.
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I am aware of my noble friend’s interest in this area, and I
have also read the report linked to the UTCs. His point is
noted, although I do not entirely agree with him.
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(Lab)
My Lords, whichever way the noble Viscount dresses it up, a
59% decline in new apprenticeships year on year is hardly an
auspicious start to the main plank of the Government’s
attempts to address the skills gap. One issue is pay. The
Department for Business reported in July that one in five
apprentices was not receiving the correct national minimum
wage, even though it is only £3.50 an hour. Another question
relates to flexibility, which has been raised by other noble
Lords, although I would like to put a slightly different
angle on it. The Chancellor said in his Budget speech last
week that he would keep under review the flexibility with
which levy payers can spend their money. I very much hope he
will, because part-time apprenticeships have a role to play
here and flexibility would certainly be valued by young
parents. Will the Government offer advice to employers to
make sure that they make more part-time apprenticeships
available, not only for their own benefit in terms of skills
but to boost the overall number of necessary apprenticeships?
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The noble Lord has raised a number of points but I shall pick
up on two. As he will know, the national minimum wage is
going up from £3.50 to £3.70 per hour from April 2018.
However, we do not see pay as being a particular issue in the
way he has suggested. Apart from that, his point about
part-time apprenticeships is important, and that is very much
part of our plans.
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