Thousands of jobs could be lost and the courses relating to many of
Britain’s 627,700 apprentices suspended if the Department for
Education refuses to follow Government advice to protect
independent apprenticeship providers.
The stark warning from Labour has been included in a letter to
Education Secretary from Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary and Labour’s Shadow
Apprenticeships Minister .
A recent survey from the Association of Education and Learning
Providers has found 25 per cent of apprenticeship providers rated
their chances of survival as less than 50 per cent without
Government support as incomes have crashed due to courses being
unable to complete, low new starter numbers, and funding being
halted.
The letter from Labour exposes how the Government has failed to
respond to previous Ministerial letters on the subject, and comes
after one leading provider claimed that without the guidance
being followed, their losses “would be unsustainable”.
and have demanded that the
Government follows its own guidance from existing budgets to
avoid “the appalling impact this could have on hundreds of
independent apprenticeship providers and hundreds of thousands of
apprentices”.
Their letter has asked for the Education Secretary to
“immediately confirm that the department will follow the guidance
contained within Cabinet Office Procurement…or explain why the
department does not consider it to apply in this case?”
Long-Bailey and Perkins have warned that they will try to force a
Parliamentary debate if the Government continues to refuse to
give apprenticeship providers a response to their request.
Ends
Notes to Editors
The Cabinet Office Action note 02/20 on supplier relief due to
Covid -19 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/874178/PPN_02_20_Supplier_Relief_due_to_Covid19.pdf
instructs that “All contracting authorities should:
Urgently review their contract portfolio and inform suppliers who
they believe are at risk that they will continue to be paid as
normal (even if service delivery is disrupted or temporarily
suspended) until at least the end of June.” Yet the Department
for Education have refused to confirm that they will apply that
to apprenticeship providers. Instead Government has referred
vaguely to ‘support for quality apprenticeship providers’ in a
letter to all MPs issued by Minister last Friday.
Full Text of Letter
Dear Gavin & Gillian,
We write to follow up on the letter sent by the previous shadow
Apprenticeships Minister, to on 25th March 2020,
concerning the crisis facing independent apprenticeship
providers.
The crisis has been exacerbated by the Department for Education’s
failure, thus far, to follow the Cabinet Office’s Procurement
Guidance. We want to stress the appalling impact this could have
on hundreds of independent apprenticeship providers and hundreds
of thousands of apprentices.
We are not aware of any substantive reply to Emma’s letter nor to
her Parliamentary Question which the department was unable to
answer today. I am aware that Mark Dawe on behalf of The
Association of Education and Learning Providers (AELP) also wrote
to you on this subject on the 29th March 2020.
You will be aware that as many as 25% of Apprenticeship providers
have responded to the most recent AELP member survey to indicate
that they expect to have to close if the department refuses to
follow the Cabinet Office guidance. This would not only lead to
the loss of thousands of jobs directly employed by apprenticeship
providers, but leave hundreds of thousands of apprenticeship
courses suspended, with apprentices unable to complete their
studies.
The industry isn’t only suffering from the inability to finish
many of their courses due to the employers or end point
assessment being unavailable, but it is clear that many of the
next generation of apprenticeship starts will be delayed or
cancelled due to closure or uncertainty amongst employers.
We would remind you that following the Cabinet Office guidance
does not require your department to spend new money. This is
simply about paying the monies already allocated in the 2020-21
DfE budget for apprenticeships.
We entirely understand how busy your department is right now, but
this huge issue could be resolved very quickly.
Can we ask you to immediately confirm that the department will
follow the guidance contained within Cabinet Office Procurement
note 0220 ‘supplier relief due to COVID-19’ or explain why the
department does not consider it to apply in this case? The
indecision is deeply damaging and will lead to apprenticeship
providers laying off staff or suspending courses unnecessarily.
We are available to discuss this at your very earliest
convenience, and would ask you to make an urgent statement to the
House clarifying the position next week. We give notice that we
will pursue this by all parliamentary means possible if the
industry does not have an answer on this by the close of
Wednesday 29th April 2020.
Yours sincerely,
RLB/ TP
