A call to merge two building industry training boards under proposals to tackle a workforce shortage has been turned down by ministers.
In his delayed Industry Training Board review, published on Thursday, expert Mark Farmer said the Department for Education’s funding of both the Construction Industry Training Board and Engineering Construction Industry Training Board could not be justified.
But in its response the DfE only accepted half of the review’s 63 recommendations, rejecting three outright and only partially accepting 25 others.
This was despite Farmer saying “cherry picking” from his recommendations “could render change ineffective”.
His main recommendation – to merge the CITB and ECITB – was dismissed.
A DfE spokesperson said:“Whilst we have no plans to legislate to merge the two industry training boards, over the next 12 months we will be working with them and other government departments to implement and make progress on many of the report’s recommendations.”
The Federation for Master Builders estimates at least 240,000 extra construction workers are needed over the next four years to meet demand.
The DfE appointed Farmer in 2023 to review the role and effectiveness of the CITB and ECITB. These bodies impose their own levies on construction and engineering employers to fund training.
His review found the two boards’ interventions had “insufficient” impact to “demonstrate reasonable additionality and, on the face of it, justify their existence”.
Farmer said: “This is reflected in the growing risks of future workforce attrition, future skills misalignment and a looming potential inability to meet future industry demand. This suggests a fundamental reset is required across both ITBs to change both direction and effectiveness.”
He proposed to merge the CITB and ECITB into a single rebranded body, responsible for workforce development of new and existing workers in the construction and engineering construction sectors.
The DfE said there were “significant benefits to greater alignment and collaboration” across the two boards as well as Skills England, but that a full merger would require “further scoping”.
It said: “How this alignment should be taken forward in the long term requires further scoping. Options to be considered range from voluntary collaboration to full legal merger of the ITBs. A starting point must be enhanced collaboration on specific areas such as infrastructure across Great Britain, increasing trainers, clean energy jobs and skills passporting.”
The review lays out 63 recommendations across 17 areas, which propose the merged ITB to “maximise industry recovery of apprenticeship levy” and act as the lead coordinator to maximise the use of skills bootcamps, local skills improvement plans and other DfE-funded programmes.
Other recommendations include a refocused levy-grant system and the two ITBs retaining ring-fenced levy funds in the short term whilst options for levy consolidation are explored.
The report says: “It is recognised therefore that there is an ‘all or nothing’ subtext to this review’s recommendations, representing a last throw of the dice to prove a new ITB model can be much more effective.”
Farmer said: “Whatever happens, we should aspire to a high quality, standards-led workforce that is capable of delivering more and better.”
Andrew Hockey, CEO of the ECITB, said his board has already started developing plans to implement the recommendations.
“We welcome closer collaboration with the CITB, particularly in the area of infrastructure skills where there is the most commonality between the ITBs’ respective footprints,” he said.
Tim Balcon, CEO of CITB, said: “We must move at pace to work together to tackle the joint needs of industry without the delay and disruption that legislative or structural changes would surely bring, and that would inevitably be detrimental to industry success.
“We need to be laser-focused on addressing industry needs by providing standardised levels of competence, alternative routes into industry, and making it easier and cheaper to access high-quality training.
“Importantly, the report recognises the significant skills challenges facing the construction and engineering industries and the vital role that the ITBs play in helping address these. Further, it asserts that the best way of doing so is to retain the ITB model and industry-specific levies.”
Fiona Aldridge, chief executive of the Skills Federation, said: “ITBs have a crucial role to play in helping identify critical skills needs, engaging employers in meeting these needs, and in connecting them into the wider skills system.
“Whilst engagement with individual employers is important, there is an important role too for ITBs and other sector skills bodies in ensuring we have a comprehensive view of skills needs, including for small and medium-sized companies, and a coordinated and coherent approach to addressing them.”
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