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Miliband sent ‘back to drawing board’

Labour leader Ed Miliband has been told to “go back to the drawing board” with his plans to create 125,000 apprentices.

The proposals — in which companies would be forced to train a “local” apprentice for every foreign worker they take on — were branded “illegal” by Skills Minister Matthew Hancock, who further questioned Labour’s claims the apprenticeships wouldn’t cost the taxpayer a penny.

Any firm that wants to bring in a foreign worker must also train up someone who’s a local worker’ — Ed Miliband

He told FE Week: “Apprenticeships are hugely valuable in their own right and a partnership between employer, apprentice, and government — it’s back to the drawing board I think.”

The government on average pays around £2,000 per apprentice, to cover the cost of the college or other training provider delivering the formal vocational learning.

Under normal circumstances, the government would therefore have to fork out £250m for the 125,000 apprentices in Labour’s proposal.

Mr Miliband unveiled the radical policy during a walkabout in Brighton, ahead of his party’s conference.

And a spokesperson for the party’s shadow home affairs team later claimed the entire cost would be covered by employers.

“The companies themselves will be required to provide the apprenticeships, so [there will be] no additional cost to the government,” he told FE Week.

“We consider that it is incorrect to say it would have to be government-funded to be considered an apprenticeship.”

But Mr Hancock said Labour was wrong and there was always a cost to the government for apprenticeships.

“It seems like Labour don’t understand the basics of how apprenticeships work,” he said.

Mr Miliband first explained the details of the policy to the Sunday Mirror, on September 22.

He said: “We’re going to say to any firm that wants to bring in a foreign worker that they also have to train up someone who’s a local worker, training up the next generation.

“We think that can create up to 125,000 new apprenticeships over the course of five years. That is a massive boost in skills for our young people and that is really important.”

The statement appeared to suggest firms with more than 50 employees would be forced to take on British-only apprentices.

However, Mr Hancock poured scorn on Mr Miliband’s plans that afternoon via Twitter, claiming efforts to limit apprentices to the UK would break European law.

He expanded on the point during a debate on FE, hosted by FE Week, at the Labour conference.

Mr Hancock claimed the policy was an “unworkable gimmick” and said: “With regards to this idea for every non-EU migrant a company employs, they should employ a British apprentice, that didn’t sounds like it fitted with European Union law to me, so I sought legal advice.

“The government legal advice was very clear — that it is illegal under European Union law.”

Labour then appeared to alter its stance over the course of the week.

The party’s shadow home affairs team claimed on Wednesday that Mr Miliband actually meant companies could employ an apprentice from any European Union country.

He said: “In accordance with existing practice, we have never intended to limit apprenticeships to UK nationals.

“But the evidence shows 92 per cent of existing apprenticeships in the UK are taken up by UK nationals and an even higher percentage by locals.

“Exactly the same will apply to these new apprenticeships and it’s extraordinary the Tories have set their hearts against additional apprenticeships at a time when a million young people are out of work.”

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Editorial : Buy one foreign worker, get an apprenticeship (not for) free

It’s right to look for policies that might increase apprentice numbers.

But employers should be looking to take apprentices on because they see the value in doing so.

Forcing firms to take on an apprentice and to pay their wages and also training costs is the wrong way to do it.

How would you feel if your boss only took you on because they had to?

I would be worried about my long term employment prospects.

I would also have grave doubts about the amount of time and money that was going to be invested in my training.

And, of course, this policy proposal is wrapped up in anti-immigration rhetoric with the new apprentice getting a job simply because their boss had taken on someone from outside the EU.

It’s a shame Labour decided to saddle the future of apprenticeships with such a divisive policy when the guiding ethos of FE has always been one of inclusion.

All in all this seems to be a bad idea.

Bad for employers, employees and FE.

Nick Linford, editor

24+ loan applications up 46 per cent a-month

Nearly 16,000 people applied for the 24+ Advanced Learning Loan in August, up 46 per cent on the number of applications made in the previous month (10,772).

Data Service figures further revealed just under half of the 34,700 loans applications since the programme launched in April were submitted in last month alone (15,725).

Boston College funding and registry data manager Fiona Wrisberg (pictured) said: “The student response and uptake has been positive — it’s been far better than we thought.”

This is something the country simply cannot afford to ignore.”

The 24+ Advanced Learner Loan system was proposed in the government’s 2011 report New Challenges, New Chances.

Before the system’s introduction, the government subsidised 50 per cent of the cost of adult courses, with learners paying the rest upfront. Now, learners aged 24 or over can pay for a level three or four course with a loan, repaid when they are earning more than £21,000.

Loans for access to higher education courses do not have to be repaid if the student progresses to university, which Ms Wrisberg (pictured) said may explain the loans’ positive reception.
“I think it’s actually encouraged people to come and do the qualification, particularly for access,” said Ms Wrisberg.

Of the 15,725 loan applications in August, 37 per cent (5,812) were for access to higher education courses. It brings the total number of such loans applied for up to 14,720 — 42 per cent of all loans.

Association of Colleges assistant chief executive Julian Gravatt said: “Colleges have worked hard to ensure people know the strengths and weaknesses of the loans. Some 35,000 applicants is a sign these efforts have worked in some areas but there are some shortfalls.”

Just 77 loans for apprenticeships have been applied for since the scheme began — 52 in August. The figures are dramatically below government forecasts, in which around 25,000 applications for apprenticeship loans were expected this academic year.

During an FE Week webinar on Thursday (September 26), Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said: “Apprenticeships, as opposed to other vocational training are less tied to the September year… I will keep my eye on it.” Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal (pictured) said the apprenticeship figures were “no surprise”, but called on the government to investigate.

“Apprenticeships are different… therefore the purpose of loans does not fit the whole structure,” he said. “It’s damaging the apprenticeship system… just as we begin to create creditability we are losing it at the top end.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education, said the loans system was “broken” for apprenticeships. He suggested writing off loans for students who went on to higher apprenticeships, as with access courses.

“We have been concerned about how loans would work in financing apprenticeships and have repeatedly called for government to take specific action to ensure advanced and higher apprenticeships remain a viable option for adults aged 24 and over,” he said.

“This is something the country simply cannot afford to ignore.”

Mixed welcome for older apprenticeships ‘policy shift’

An apparent shift in FE funding policy that could see a rise in the number of 24+ apprentices has received a mixed welcome.

In March last year the agency said, in its 2012/13 final allocations methodology briefing note, that it would “not award any growth” for older apprenticeships.

But an agency spokesperson confirmed to FE Week that it was now “accepting” providers’ requests for more money to deliver apprenticeships for 24+ learners.

However, a spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) denied there had been a change in funding policy, saying apprenticeships “remain an all-age programme”.

The risk, given we’re in a world of limited funding, is that if there is more money available for older apprentices, then there will be less available for younger people.

Nevertheless, the apparent shift to accept older apprenticeship funding requests was welcomed by Unionlearn, the education arm of the TUC, but its spokesperson added: “We are concerned that many current apprenticeships for adults are little more than accreditation of the work they are currently doing and contain little in the way of progression.”

Just five months ago Business Secretary Vince Cable (pictured) wrote to the agency explaining how he wanted younger apprentice numbers boosted. He did the same last year.

But three weeks after his most recent letter, the agency said its priority was funding apprenticeships at all ages — and it has now produced a new form in which extra cash for 24+ apprenticeships can be requested.

The BIS spokesperson told FE Week: “As a result of simplifying the funding system across FE we have introduced greater freedoms and flexibilities for colleges and providers.

“This will put them in a better position to respond to the needs of learners, employers and communities to whom they are becoming increasingly accountable.”

The agency invites providers at the end of quarters one, two and three to ask for additional funding for their programmes.

The ‘additional’ funding is cash allocated to independent learning providers that hasn’t been spent and so is moved around the wider FE and skills system, including colleges, to meet demand.

Julian Gravatt, assistant chief executive at the Association of Colleges, said: “We won’t know for a few weeks whether there is any money available to meet these requests but it is sensible for the agency to standardise and formalise this process.”

Stewart Segal, Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “We support the need to respond to all age growth in the programme, but we assume that business cases where additional 16 to 24 apprenticeship starts are planned will get first priority.”

In June, FE Week reported on fears at the Department for Education that 16 to 18-year-olds were being squeezed out of potential apprenticeships by “competition” from older applicants.

And in July, FE Week reported how the number of 16 to 18 apprenticeship starts was falling against the backdrop of a boom in the overall numbers — from 457,200 in 2010/11 to 520,600 last academic year.

Tony Dolphin (Pictured), chief economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research, said: “This government — as did the previous one — is making a lot about big increases in overall apprenticeship numbers, but the group for which apprenticeships really should apply is seeing numbers falling.”

He added: “The risk, given we’re in a world of limited funding, is that if there is more money available for older apprentices, then there will be less available for younger people.

“It’s a weakness of the vocational education and training system in general that the government sets targets for the numbers of qualifications and asks these quangos to deliver those targets and the targets then go to providers to find ways of delivering them.”

The wait for an outstanding indy goes on

After 131 Ofsted visits, independent learning providers (ILPs) are still waiting for their first outstanding verdict under the education watchdog’s current common inspection framework.

The sector has failed to achieve a single grade one result since the start of the last academic year, when the new framework was put in place.

But across the wider FE and skills sector up to July — from more than 320 inspections — there were 10 outstanding results under the new framework, including two for general FE colleges and two for sixth form colleges.

The last ILP to achieve a grade one was Hillingdon Training Limited, in Ruislip, Greater London, in October last year, when it had around 430 learners.

It had been inspected under the previous framework, introduced in September 2009 and under which there had been 21 ILPs graded as outstanding.

Stewart Segal, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “The new inspection framework is only a year old and providers need time to work with Ofsted to understand the standards and deliver the service to customers that meets those standards.”

He added: “Teaching, learning and assessment is a key part of the new framework and it is important that providers are able to demonstrate good practice when delivering in the wide variety of work-based locations.”

Under the current framework, Ofsted inspectors have dished out a dozen inadequate ratings to ILPs, the most recent of which came for Bury-based Training For Travel on September 20. It was the first and, as of Wednesday morning (September 25), only inspection result for the sector this academic year.

The 2,000-learner provider also got grade four results in each of the headline inspections fields having earned a grade three result following its last inspection, in December 2009.

Its chief operating officer, Beverley Platt, said she was considering an appeal against the grade four result, but declined to comment further.

Meanwhile, under the current inspection framework, there have also been 54 grade three, or requires improvement, judgments against ILPs along with 65 at grade two, or good.

But with around two months to go before Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw’s annual report comes out, many in the sector will be hoping for a grade one result soon having seen colleges come under heavy fire in last year’s report. The chief inspector said government needed to “shine a spotlight” on the FE sector, pointing to a threefold increase in the number of colleges graded as inadequate — from four in 2010/11 to 13 the following year.

Nevertheless, Mr Segal remained upbeat about the ILPs and said the association was looking to run a pilot course aimed at improvement.

“Despite the newness of the framework, it looks as if more than 30 per cent of providers have improved their grades and only 16 per cent have had worse grades,” he said.

“As always, any provider getting worse grades is one too many.”

He added: “We are currently working on a programme that builds the capacity to improve in the sector.

“We hope to run a pilot programme with providers that need to improve by the end of the year.”

An Ofsted spokesperson confirmed there had been no ILPs graded as outstanding under the new inspection framework.

However, she said Ofsted would not comment on the sector ahead of the annual report’s publication.

Labour conference fringe event

Download your free copy of the FE Week 16-page Labour conference fringe event supplement on the future of apprenticeships, in partnership with Pearson.

Click here to download (15mb)

Introduction

Welcome to this FE Week supplement on the Labour Party conference fringe, where FE Week ran its own event.

This was our first foray into the world of party conferences and frankly, we loved it.

This begs the question ‘Why didn’t we do all three conferences?’ and there’s a whole host of answers we could give you, but at some point we have to put our cards on the table and admit that we were too late in applying for the Conservative and Liberal Democrat conferences to secure a place at their fringe.

But with a bit of planning, we’re looking forward to bringing you all the action from all three party conferences next spring.

At this year’s autumn Labour conference, we were right at the heart of the action, and our own fringe event, The Future of Apprenticeships, was described as “unusual” by the BBC News at Ten as, thanks to technology, we were able to bring an unexpected guest with us.

As we were watching Shadow Education Secretary Stephen Twigg’s speech, a few hours before our event, we noticed Conservative Skills Minister Matthew Hancock MP had tweeted to say he had consulted government lawyers on Labour’s new flagship policy.

The lawyers, according to Mr Hancock, had declared the policy, where companies would have to employ one British apprentice for every non-EU worker they took on, to be illegal.

We knew this was too good an opportunity to pass up, and so invited Mr Hancock along to our event to explain in more detail — via Skype, of course. And, since we’re not known for being shy, we tipped off the BBC on the way.

Something we are known for, however, is enjoying an #FEparty, and this event was no exception, with fun, puns, bunting and mountains of popcorn.

The stellar line-up of big FE names included Shadow Ministers Tristram Hunt and Gordon Marsden, IfL chief executive Toni Fazaeli and Niace chief executive David Hughes.

There was also AoC chief executive Martin Doel, NUS vice president for FE Joe Vinson, UCU president-elect John McCormack and chair of South East Midlands Local Enterprise Partnership Dr Ann Limb.

Despite the fun, it was also a chance for these big names, along with the Skills Minister via Skype, to discuss the serious issues facing apprenticeships, and ultimately the whole UK economy.

One of the conference’s most headline-grabbing announcements was the apprenticeship policy and you can read about that in more detail on page 3, along with the results of our fringe poll. Is £2.68 a fair or unfair training wage?

The Labour Party’s skills taskforce, chaired by Professor Chris Husbands, published its report, A revolution in apprenticeships: a something-for-something deal with employers, and the radical proposals it lays out are covered on page 4.

Commentary on the report from Steve Besley, head of policy at Pearson, and senior skills policy manager at the AoC Teresa Frith follows on page 5. Coverage of our fringe event, with the views, ideas and arguments from all of our illustrious panellists starts on page 6 and continues onto page 11.

Then if you feel you’d like to know a little bit more about the people behind the policy, you can turn to pages 12 and 13 for our profiles of two of the key figures in Labour’s skills team, shadow ministers Tristram Hunt and Gordon Marsden.

Finally it’s back to the fun, joining roving reporter Shane Mann on pages 14 and 15 on his mission to introduce FE Week to a whole new readership and meet as many Labour party celebrities as possible.

So that’s the conference party debates over for us until the spring, but don’t forget you can join in the ongoing debate about skills policy on twitter with our @FEWeek Twitter handle.

New social partnership needed for apprentices

Wider agreement between the Government, employers, learners and learning providers is needed to ensure apprenticeships set people up for long and fulfilling careers, explains David Hughes from the Labour Party Conference.

We all know apprentices are a good thing, don’t we?

Sitting on the panel at the FE Week fringe event last night on the future of apprentices was an interesting experience.

The panel included two Labour shadow ministers, as well as the Coalition’s Skills Minister, beamed in via Skype.

In many ways, you could hardly hold a cigarette paper between any of them, or any of the other panellists, in terms of what they thought about the apprenticeship programme.

The consensus that apprentices are a good thing flows through into policies, which are very similar.

The hope is there may be some much-needed stability over the coming years. Another area of all-round agreement between the panellists was the need to end the myriad of changes to the apprenticeships (and skills) programme, which have rained down from above over the past decade or more.

The Labour Party Skills Task Force published its report on apprenticeships yesterday: A revolution in apprenticeships: A something for something deal with employers.

Among many ideas for policy, a few stand out.

The headline will probably be the move to a new gold standard, with level two apprenticeships being replaced by a new and improved traineeship.

This means the term apprentice will only apply at level three and above.

I support this, with a number of caveats. Within this change, we must ensure we do not disenfranchise learners at level two.

Changing the definition of apprentice to level three and above is not enough.

What is needed is a wider definition, which describes the quality of the experience and the outcomes better.

That definition needs to be negotiated with and agreed by the apprentices themselves, along with employee and learner representatives including the unions.

Of utmost importance is that apprenticeships are open to everyone.

They should be for anyone, regardless of their age or occupation.

It is also essential we see more employers taking on apprentices from a black or minority ethnic background, or who have a learning difficulty or disability.

We are hoping the new Equality and Diversity Innovation Fund will help address this balance.

An apprenticeship should be about acquiring the transferable skills needed, not simply for a job, but for a lasting and fulfilling career.

What I would also like to see is a definition of quality which describes the learning experience.

This would include the breadth of exposure the apprentices have to the company they are working for, the support and mentoring they will receive, the relevance of the qualification and the number of hours of off-the-job training and on-the-job training.

Also, the progression opportunities at the end of the apprenticeship and the chances of getting a permanent job at the end.

More than anything, I would like to see a quality charter or guarantee that apprentices will always be supported for their career, not just the job they are in today.

This Quality Charter has to be developed with apprentices and written from their perspective, but must be agreed by the kind of social partnership we sorely lack in England.

A new social partnership, between the Government, employers, learners and providers will ensure a long-term vision for the apprenticeship programme.

The Husband Report hints at this social partnership and acknowledges the need for a stronger apprenticeship voice, but it isn’t bold enough.

The tension between what the apprentice wants and what the employer wants in the short-term must be exposed.

Good employers want staff who can carry on developing and good employees want to progress and earn more.

That is a virtuous circle of wants which we should focus more on.

The consensus on the value of apprentices can be a good thing if we are bold in our partnership approach.

I think we are nearly there, but one big collective push is needed.

David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education and interim chair of the Education and Training Foundation

Uncertainty at Skills Funding Agency after job cuts announcement

More than 1,000 Skills Funding Agency staff are facing an uncertain future after workers were warned of job cuts in response to the “Civil Service Reform Agenda”.

The agency is planning to “restructure” in two phases, initially losing at least 17 members of its 44-strong senior team.

As part of our response to the Civil Service Reform Agenda and the changing landscape in the funding of adult skills we are restructuring the agency,

The first phase is expected to be finished by January, when the reduced senior team will then “design” the structure for the rest of the organisation — leaving the agency’s 1,200 staff uncertain of their jobs.

“At this stage no firm decisions have been made as to the scope and scale of phase two reductions. This will be confirmed during 2014,” an agency spokesperson told FE Week.

The agency, which delivers £4.1bn of skills training through contracts with more than 1,000 providers, is based in Coventry. It has 13 offices around England.

Industrial officer for the Public and Commercial Services union Tony Conway said: “They’re [the agency] saying to us they’re not planning to close offices because the leases are not up for renewal until 2015 and later. They’re saying they will be flexible if offices do close in how people work, but it’s very early days.”

However, he added: “We’re not totally convinced the agency can deliver with that size of staff reduction.”

The announcement was made to staff on Monday (September 23) through a weekly communication and was discussed further at the agency’s annual all-staff meeting two days later.

“As part of our response to the Civil Service Reform Agenda and the changing landscape in the funding of adult skills we are restructuring the agency,” said the agency spokesperson.

“We have told staff and just started the process to reduce the agency’s senior team by more than 35 per cent. This should be completed by January.

“Once this new, smaller senior team is in place they will then design the structure for the rest of the organisation (phase two) and this should be completed in time for the start of the next spending review (2015-16).”
The Civil Service Reform Agenda, launched in July 2012, is the government’s plan to reorganise the civil service, making it “more skilled, digital and unified”.

“Many areas of the civil service are moving towards digital access [through IT systems] and that’s happening at the agency,” said Mr Conway.

“They’re saying they don’t need to talk to people directly, over the phone or face-to-face. They’re saying they can do it digitally and follow-up any questions by phone calls.”

He added: “You end up with faceless bureaucrats.”

In November 2011, FE Week reported how more than £17m would be spent on voluntary redundancy packages for hundreds of agency staff in a bid to cut long-term costs.

And in April, Business Secretary Vince Cable wrote to the agency warning that its administration budget, which includes salaries, was expected to drop £8m, to just under £85m for 2014-15.

Previous grants funding letters show that from 2012-13 to 2013-14 there was a drop of nearly £9m, to almost £93m.

FE Week at Labour Party Conference 2013

The FE Week team attended the first day of the Labour Party Conference in Brighton yesterday. We held a poll on the apprenticeship minimum wage during the day and a fringe event, sponsored by Pearson, in the evening.

There will be plenty of photos and reporting in the next edition of FE Week (September 30), along with the results of the poll, but in the meantime here are a few photo highlights:

The fringe event, The Future of Apprenticeships, was featured on the BBC News at 10, for being “unusual” in that the Skills Minister Matthew Hancock was beamed into the event via Skype.

FE-Week-Fringe — Screen-grab from BBC News at 10 of Skills Minister Matthew Hankcock via Skype, and on the panel from left Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden, FE Week editor Nick Linford, Chair of South East Midlands LEP Ann Limb OBE and Toni Fazaeli chief executive of the Institute for Learning

Len-McCluskey-Poll — Len McCluskey, General Secretary of the Unite union voting in the FE Week poll

Labour calls time on the level 2 apprenticeship

Labour’s Skills Taskforce, chaired by Chris Husbands, has today published a report on apprenticeships: A revolution in apprenticeships: a something-for-something deal with employers.

Describing itself as a “strategy to dramatically increase the number and quality of apprenticeships in England” the report says: “to protect the apprenticeship brand, level 2 training should be renamed as a traineeship or similar.”

“A universal gold standard for apprenticeships would reduce much of the low quality provision that is of no value to either employers or learners, and would minimise‘deadweight’, where public funds are spent on training that would have taken place anyway.

“To remedy this situation, Labour should work towards a situation whereby all apprenticeships:

• Are level 3 or above, which is the norm in Germany and other countries with strong
apprenticeship systems;
• Last a minimum of 2 years for level 3 (equivalent to A level) and 3 years for level 4
(university level);
• Include at least a day a week (or the equivalent) of off-the-job training, ensuring that
young people receive the broader theoretical training that underpins mobility and
progression in the labour market alongside work-based training; and
• Are focused on new job entrants rather than existing employees”

The report goes on to say: “However, given that two-thirds of all apprenticeships in England are now at level 2, these measures would inevitably lead to a dramatic fall in apprenticeship numbers if introduced suddenly.

“Employers and providers should therefore be given time to improve the quality of their apprenticeships over an agreed period. It is also vital that young people achieving at level 2 are able to progress to higher levels, so level 2 apprenticeships should be redesigned, as well as renamed, to ensure courses provide a platform for progression to a level 3 apprenticeship.”

Today (Sunday 22) at 18:30 FE Week is holding a free to attend fringe event at the Labour Party Conference about the future of apprenticeships (for more click here)