The Richards review of apprenticeships commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) should be reporting soon. What recommendations do
AELPwant to see?
We had quite a big input into the review. We clearly want him to retain the importance of apprenticeships, and I have little doubt that will happen. We also, and I am more doubtful about this, we really want to see him confirming that the apprenticeships should not be restricted to new jobs for 16 to 18 year olds.
Our members feel quite passionately that the employer-designed apprenticeship framework concept has the capacity to be the underpinning matrix of skill development at all ages and all levels.
We believe some need to be improved. Doug Richards will have some things to say about quality and appropriateness and focusing, but we have argued very strongly that to restrict the concept of apprenticeships as only for young people, will miss a massive trick.
We have now got a process of employers designing frameworks for young people related to skills levels, related to the sectors and to the occupations.
Forget the word apprenticeship - you actually are laying out employer-led and designed skills standards matrix, which anybody can find out where they are and look to move to the next step, upwards or sideways.
That is actually in place. We have argued that the apprenticeships delivery model within the workplace, delivered by employers, with the support of theoretical training on the job has absolutely been proved right.
What we would love Doug Richards to say is that the fundamental design is proven, is working, and now should be openly developed for anybody in the workplace.
Who will pay for this training?
We believe very strongly in employer ownership. Employers have traditionally taken on the costs of developing their schemes, but with the government contributing to that cost because of their ongoing responsibility to make sure that people of all ages are brought up to basic levels of numeracy, literacy and transferable skills.
Some would say that this is what schools have failed to do. We believe that government should be contributing to a massive expansion in apprenticeships; simply, for those elements of the apprenticeships that the employers are picking up the main technical skill areas.
Is there a perception that only large companies run apprenticeships?
People have a picture in their mind that is often inaccurate and are often, damaging, harmful and restricting.
We deliver 500,000 apprenticeships – so we know a bit about them. The vast majority of the apprenticeships we deliver are in SMEs.
Most of these apprenticeships are with companies with 10 to 50 employees. They have one apprentice, and are working to the same high quality framework that large companies, like Rolls Royce are working to.
SMEs are only able to deliver such apprenticeships because they get a professional organisation in to oversee the process.
Our overall objective is to get more SMEs involved.
How good is the
AELP’s relationship with the government?
I think, former skills minister John Hayes totally signed up to where were coming from. We worked with him for four years whilst he was in opposition and once he became minister he quite rightly boasted that because he had the portfolio in opposition he knew what he was talking about when he came into government.
His view and our view overlapped to a surprisingly high degree.
I am optimistic about the new skills minister Matthew Hancock. It is still early days - but he is saying all the right things. He has come to the position from an economic perspective but I don’t think that is a problem, as apprenticeships are a business support tool.
To me, Hancock is saying that he is passionate about the skills agenda and placing apprenticeships within that.
I am making the argument that apprenticeships can be expanded to make them more inclusive. For four or five years we have been talking about more integration of apprenticeships and skills.
The
AELPnow receives skills funding to train the unemployed. This is a new initiative, developed within the last 18 months.
What we really need is to see the integration of education and skills and ultimately schools preparing youngster for the workplace.
I believe Hancock has taken a stronger role within the Department for Education (DfE). As skills minister, he works across BIS and DfE, and I believe he is taking it more seriously than John was probably allowed to, which can only be a good thing.
How can closer working between departments help solve the problem of young people not in employment or education, or Neet?
Neets are really the responsibility of the three departments dealing with 16 to 24 year olds, DfE, BIS and the DWP.
They are three major funding departments who have a real interest in getting this sorted out. We have to do more on the coordination and simplification of preparatory training
We believe that there are too many different programmers, too many schemes out there with different routes and different regulations.
We also agree strongly with the recommendations from the BIS select committee that the National Apprenticeships Service should have responsibilities in relation to promoting apprenticeships within schools.