FE loans ‘a difficult nettle to grasp’

David Hughes speaking at the Adult Learners’ Week Conference

FE loans were a contentious topic at the conference and skills minister John Hayes addressed concerns in his speech, describing the loans as “a difficult nettle to grasp”.

Colleges have expressed fears that the loans will discourage adults considering further education. The sector has criticised the government for not consulting it fully on the change or running a pilot project. People are also worried that there will be too little time to effectively communicate details to potential leaners.

Mr Hayes defended his decision, explaining that the loans were a way of protecting the adult learning budget in the current economic climate.

“In an ideal world, we wouldn’t be [here],” he said. “If money was limitless, if funds were available to do everything that we want to do, then we wouldn’t be [here].”

“But given the choices we made, I’m absolutely sure we took the right option.”

Mr Hayes promised that the adult leaners’ budget will remain protected as long as he has responsibility.

I have heard first hand of their fears of loans of up to £4,000 a year”

The minister also said that it was “right” that his department has “taken steps toward” the question of “who should contribute to learning and in what form”.

In response, the shadow minister Gordon Marsden criticised plans by drawing on conversations he has had with learners and staff at FE colleges across England over the past three months

“I have heard first hand of their fears of loans of up to £4,000 a year. It’s not a negligible sum of money. It will act as a major block for countless adults,” Mr Marsden said.

He added: “It’s clear that if these loans come in there has to be a very firm dialogue and debate with all stakeholders and groups concerned. And it’s not clear to me that this has taken place. Not at all.”

The subject of loans was first brought up at the Adult Learners’ Week Policy conference by Will Swann, the director of students at The Open University, in relation to higher education.

Part-time students will be able to access loans for tuition fees for the first time later this year.

Gordon Marsden, Shadow Minister for FE and John Hayes, Minister for FE

The change comes after the government redirected higher education funding from grants to loans, dramatically pushing up fees in the process. Mr Swann welcomed the move, but said that it “of course guarantees nothing”.

When asked by FE Week whether the government has given enough time to make this change, Mr Swann described it as “a little bit hairy”.

The Student Loans Company does not open applications for part-time loans until the end of July, but The Open University already has 30,000 students who have registered for degrees.

“We may face an interesting cash flow problem this year, but we’re working very very closely with the student loans company,” said Mr Swann.

“There is a level of uncertainty that we face at the moment which we haven’t faced since we were founded in 1969,” he added.

The director of students later joked that one unintended consequence of the policy could be that retired people will take advantage of taking out a loan that there is very little chance of them paying back. “I keep my hopes up that way” he quipped.

The critical role adult learning plays in social mobility was referenced in the course of the conference, with biting remarks from Baroness Margaret Sharp of Guilford.

“I don’t think Nick Clegg recognises how important adult education is in social mobility,” said the Liberal Democrat. The backbencher then attacked further education loans: “I cannot understand why we, as a government, why on earth we are pushing forward with loans for level 3.

“I really think that if we are concerned about social mobility, it’s very important that we try to overturn it.”

Will Swann, director of students at The Open University and Baroness Sharp of Guildford

Who will foot the bill for health and care training?

The UK faces unprecedented demands for expert health and social care workers in every area from childcare to support for an aging population beset by problems such as poverty, isolation, immobility and dementia. From cradle to grave, we need skilled workers and managers fast, we need them trained on the job, and we need considerable support from further education colleges and other training providers.

Against a background of scandals in care homes, the government is looking at leadership across the variety of fields – raising quality and raising public trust in organisations that provide health and care. Leadership qualifications already exist in schools and children’s centres. By implication they are now needed more in health and care settings.

Leadership is not just about the person at the top; it is important to inspire leadership within teams and build that up into organisational leadership. While such skills may be transferable, you also need knowledge and understanding of the sector you are working in. Therefore, we must draw leaders from within the sector, nurture them, encourage them, train them – make sure they are qualified.

The issue was emphasised recently in Professor Cathy Nutbrown’s interim review of Early Years qualifications – the need is not only for new entrants but for the current workforce to take further qualifications to improve their skills and career prospects. Evidence, she says, shows that “well qualified, experienced leadership is key to driving up quality of provision, and also that less experienced staff will benefit from good, thorough support and supervision. It is also key in safeguarding children.”

 If they internalise concepts of quality, they don’t need such close supervision as they work more effectively and independently within an agreed standard of values”

I’m passionate about the fact that qualifications help people to reflect on their practice and to create measures for themselves regarding quality. If they internalise concepts of quality, they don’t need such close supervision as they work more effectively and independently within an agreed standard of values. At CACHE, with this approach in mind, we provide children and adult care sectors with a unique portfolio of qualifications ranging from Entry to Level 5 and last year we registered over 150,000 learners.

It is crucial that we send people into the workplace with qualifications that count. For the employer such investment shows you aspire to a high-quality workforce and you set higher expectations than the level 3 qualification. Level 5 shows you take very seriously the quality assurance issue. Qualifications are important as a badge of quality and if I was commissioning care services, that is one of the things I would look for. It is after all about putting customers first.

But, as local authorities and others struggle to find new savings of £1bn from social care budgets, and inspectors report a decline of 650 registered nurseries and childminders in the first quarter of this year alone, where are the people and the resources to be found? Only by raising the status of the profession and improving public trust in what we provide will we attract and retain a workforce committed to the necessary constant self improvement.

There’s been a long-stranding culture where people have always expected that the employer will fund key pieces of development. The world is very different now and we have to think about how we use the resources we have – whether it’s about buying things, articles, consumer goods or about buying “opportunities”.

In these days employers can’t afford to meet all the costs of qualifications. So individuals may need to look more to their own resources and maybe seek loans. People might fear this but it puts them in control of their own development. They don’t have to ask anyone’s permission to do it; they are in a position to invest in their own future. Also the employers depend on having the edge about what they can offer and what they can show, so they will be looking for top quality staff and managers.

A survey by FE Week recently revealed considerable concern over the developing FE loans scheme, with two-thirds of those surveyed calling for it to be delayed or even abandoned.
We have long seen a joint commitment of employers and employees paying a share in therapeutic services. And we have seen that where people invest in their own well being, it gives them a commitment to succeed.

I hope people will really think about ways to invest in their own development. It’s a big challenge: if people are better qualified, they will expect better remuneration. And quite right too; we need jobs very well done, not just well done.

Vicki Lant , chair of the Council for Awards in Care, Health and Education (CACHE)

My commitment to ensure apprentices receive high quality training

There has been much comment in these pages over recent months about the quality of Apprenticeships. Understandably perhaps, you have been seeking to understand how we can grow the number of Apprenticeships to record levels whilst maintaining standards.  I believe that we can not only maintain high standards, but improve upon them; whilst at the same time increasing the number of opportunities available.

The Government already has much to be proud of. The vast majority of Apprenticeships in England are the gold standard of vocational training.  They boost individuals’ life chances and build the skills that drive growth. At my insistence for the first time apprentices must be in paid employment and there are now statutory guidelines outlining exactly what an Apprenticeship must entail by law.

A survey published this week shows that nine out of ten of those that complete an Apprenticeship are satisfied with their training and a third have received a promotion as a result.  The same survey says that 88 per cent of employers conclude that Apprenticeships are a good investment in their business.

However, we cannot afford to be complacent. We must be relentless in our drive to ensure all Apprenticeships are as good as the best, to identify and root out any instances of poor quality provision, and to raise the bar on standards.

Late last year, I announced a series of major reforms to drive up quality and standards and asked the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) to develop an action plan to ensure that Apprenticeships routinely meet the rigorous standards apprentices and employers expect.

In the months since, we’ve taken strong and decisive action to tackle short duration Apprenticeships and review sub-contracting arrangements.

NAS and the Skills Funding Agency’s comprehensive review of all short duration programmes has already resulted in significant improvements to many Apprenticeships and the withdrawal of inadequate sub-contracted provision. From August 2012, all Apprenticeships for must last for a minimum of 12 months, ensuring they are of sufficient length to deliver the training employers need.

New safeguards are being put in place to strengthen monitoring, reporting and subcontracting arrangements. In addition, new contracts will ensure that training providers not only act according to regulations, but also within the spirit of the Apprenticeship programme.

 I am committed to ensuring that they will receive the high quality training they deserve.”

I am determined to build on this momentum and intensify our efforts to safeguard and improve the quality and standards of Apprenticeships.

As I told members of the BIS Select Committee this week, the coming months will see still greater progress; NAS are reviewing Apprenticeship frameworks that have been deemed a cause for concern and we will publish new guidance on the implementation of quality standards. The Government will also take forward measures to ensure all apprentices are given the opportunity to get Level 2 English and Maths.

Following the National Audit Office report which made clear that for every£1 spent by the government on Apprenticeships there is an £18 return to the economy.

An employer-led standards review, expected to report this summer, is being undertaken to consider how effectively the Apprenticeships programme is delivery the professionally recognised qualifications and skills employers need, identify best practice and advise on how to maximise Government investment.

As more people than ever have the opportunity to undertake an Apprenticeship, I am committed to ensuring that they will receive the high quality training they deserve.

Apprenticeships embody a continuum of learning as one generation passes skills to the next – nourishing the national interest, nurturing the common good.

John Hayes is Minister for further education, skills and lifelong learning

Rob Wye, CEO, Learning and Skills Improvement Service

One of Rob Wye’s earliest memories is living through a typhoon in Hong Kong.

“We sat on a rolled-up carpet in the living room as the water just poured in through the windows as the water just rose on the floor,” he recalls. “We all thought we were going to die.” He was just six at the time.

But Wye has many fond memories of the Far East, where he spent the early part of his childhood –in Hong Kong, and later, in Singapore – due to his father’s job as an architect. He speaks warmly of “the street markets, the peat railway and the shouting and the smells,” of Hong Kong and of holidays in Malaya, where he saw “crocodiles, lizards and monkeys and all sorts of exciting things.”

The family returned to the UK, when Wye was 11, settling in Slough, where he attended the local grammar school and was, by his own admission, a bit of a swot who “liked to pick up O levels,” – so much so, he got 14, including Russian and Greek.

Towards the end of his law degree at Cambridge, Wye – now chief executive at LSIS – took advice from a university careers advisor, who suggested graduate entry to the civil service or the police. As he didn’t fancy “trampling the beat” for three years, he chose the former and was placed in the employment service, working on regional policy.

In what he describes as “a great first job,” he soon found himself advising ministers on funding, and counts one of his biggest achievements as persuading the government to inject additional cash into deprived coastal areas like Hastings and Margate.

After a brief stint in the Health and Safety Executive, Wye spent three years working for Kenneth Barnes, then permanent secretary of the Department of Employment before being redeployed – rather suddenly – to the Manpower Services Commission in Sheffield.

He recalls: “It was Christmas Eve in 1981, my wife had just had a baby and the head of the HR department came to see me and said, ‘If you want to get promoted, you’ll need to go to Sheffield.’ I said, ‘Alright then, when do I start?’ and he said, “January 2nd.’ So I had between Christmas Eve and New Year to get everything sorted to go up to Sheffield.”

As it turned out, it was one of the best moves he ever made. Wye loved Sheffield, which he describes as “one great big village” full of families who had moved up there with the civil service. And he enjoyed working at the MSC, where – amongst others things – he undertook a review of the skills sector. “It was a great organisation…one of those where you were given huge amounts of responsibility at a young age and told to just get on with things.”

When the MSC was abolished in 1988, he went back into the employment service, working first in training, where he says his job was about “making a nuisance of himself” by reminding the education department about the existence of vocational education and trying to persuade civil servants there “that actually they were training for employment as much as they were for higher education.”

In the latter days of the Conservative government, Wye was tasked with bringing business, industry and education together to resurrect apprenticeships. But persuading the Labour government that followed of their worth proved challenging.

The incoming Labour administration – because they hadn’t invented apprenticeships – were saying: ‘We don’t like these. We don’t think these are appropriate”

“We hit the election in 1997 and the incoming Labour administration – because they hadn’t invented apprenticeships – were saying: ‘We don’t like these. We don’t think these are appropriate.’ I managed to persuade ministers that actually, no, this is exactly what they talked about in their manifesto. So we managed to get them [apprenticeships] to become bipartisan, so I am very pleased that happened. It was a [political] football for such a long time but now you won’t find a party arguing against it. It’s brought up in every single speech now, isn’t it? You get Clegg, Cameron, Miliband, all talking about apprenticeships.”

After a three-year stint in central finance, Wye moved to the newly created Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in 2000, as regional director for Northampton. He was later promoted to a national role, as director of strategy and communications, working for Mark Haysom, who later stepped down from the chief executive role after the college’s rebuilding programme ran into difficulties. “It was an absolutely brilliant job because it put you at the centre of that enormous machine, effectively operating as Mark’s number 2 and helping to redesign the system, managing the politics with the department, and managing relationships with the press, which is something that was previously not allowed.”

But in a time when the LSC was under close press scrutiny, getting into the office early on a Friday to check the TES became a ritual, he says. And while there were many fallings out with the sector’s trade paper, there was also lots of making up – including one incident which led to a public apology from the TES, something he jokes made him feel “very proud” at the time.

When the LSC was dismantled in 2010, Wye applied for the job of one of the two newly created organisations – the Young Peoples’ Learning Agency (YPLA), but lost out to Peter Lauener (who he had worked with at the MSC), which he admits was “disappointing.”

Getting the top job at LSIS (which he had applied for twice before in its previous incarnation as the Quality Improvement Agency ) more than made up for that though.

“What appealed about the role was the chance to make a difference, both to learners and society as a whole.

“Everything we do has to be designed to have an impact on making the sector better,” he says.

“Why does that matter? Well, because the sector makes things better for individuals and for the economy. There is a much more immediate link between what we do and what happens out there.”

But there are big challenges ahead, he says, and not least for colleges who are currently adjusting to a brave new world of “a great deal more freedom at a time of a great deal less money,” says Wye.

And the introduction of FE Loans, which will mean some over 24s have to take out government loans to cover the cost of A-level equivalent courses, will forces colleges to think far more entrepreneurially, he says.

“Operating in a world where you have to persuade people to take a loan out in order to come and do a level 3 or level 4 course at college… that’s a very different proposition from what we have got at the moment and colleges will need to get into a very different mind-set.”

If there is one thing Wye hopes he has achieved in his 35 year career in the sector, it has been helping to put vocational learning on the map. But he is quick to point out that there is still a long way to go.

“Making a reality of this, so that full range of opportunities and offers are available for young people, along with the appropriate advice and guidance to help them make the right choices is what motivates me.

“If I can help in any way to make that a reality, so that by the time my grandchildren get to that age it is just a natural choice whether they pursue an academic or a vocational route – and they are of equal status and equal standing – that would be tremendous.”

The government and sector are ill-prepared for FE loans

William Hague’s recent exhortation for people to stop whinging and ‘work harder’ reminded me of a certain Conservative politician from the 1980s who famously told people to ‘to get on their bike’ and look for work.

The current economic picture bears many resemblances to the heyday of Norman Tebbit; high unemployment, especially among young people, stagnated growth and above all a government out- of-touch with the challenges facing ordinary people.

What after all is the use in asking people to ‘get on their bike’ and ‘work harder’ if at the same time you are restricting their ability to access training and find work?

Nowhere is this better illustrated than in further education where the government has announced plans to make learners over the age of 24, who wish to study for qualifications at A-Level equivalent or above, pay the full cost of their tuition by taking out a loan like students do in higher education.

The government is making an unfortunate habit of not listening to expert advice in key policy areas, but it would be well-advised to study its own research in this area.

Last week it was revealed that just one in 10 people aged 24 and over would definitely undertake a further education course at college if the controversial plans to charge loans are brought in.

The new system, which is scheduled to be introduced from 2013/14, has already succeeded in uniting the sector against it.

A survey conducted by FE Week earlier this month showed that over two-thirds of students, college leaders and staff think ministers should urgently pause or look at abandoning the scheme altogether.

They rightly warn that the sector is ill-prepared for these radical changes and that little thought has been given to the impact that loans will have on students, especially women and those from poorer backgrounds and with learning difficulties.

What is the use in asking people to ‘get on their bike’ and ‘work harder’ if at the same time you are restricting their ability to access training and find work?”

There are also serious concerns over whether the Student Loans Company (SLC) has been given sufficient time to develop the administration of the loans system.

University students not receiving their loans on time are now as much part of the education calendar as pictures of A-level students leaping for joy in August.

So will the government listen to the experts or we are in for another NHS-style PR disaster? So far the signs aren’t looking positive.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) claim that introducing loans will mean that thousands of people “can access learning at a time when grant funding is being prioritised on those who need it most.”

This doesn’t exactly inspire confidence or address the basic question of how people can access learning if they are unable to afford it? The reality of the new system means that learners will have to pay thousands to study.

No matter how much William Hague exhorts people to work harder, it is simply not easy when you face record unemployment and the opportunities to get back into education are being removed or made too expensive.

It is the government that needs to work harder. It needs to give people access to the skills and jobs they need and provide the growth the country needs to start to recover.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of
the University and College Union (UCU)

FE Minister gets the final word

The skills minister has been scrutinised by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Select Committee in the last evidence session of their inquiry into apprenticeships.

John Hayes MP, speaking in Westminster last week, was quick to defend the rapid expansion in new apprentices aged 25 and above, as well as the apprenticeship scheme delivered by Elmfield Training at Morrisons.

“Unless we up skill and re-skill the existing workforce – the people over 25 – we simply won’t catch up with our competitors,” Mr Hayes said.

“I chose to make apprenticeships the vehicle to do that.”

He added: “But I do think that there would be an issue if that displaced younger apprentices.

“There’s been a 12.8 per cent growth in under 19 apprenticeships, there’s been a 69.3 per cent growth in 19 to 24 apprenticeships, so while it’s true that 25 apprenticeships have grown most, they’ve done so from a low base, and not at the expense of growth in other areas.

“If that were to happen, I would have concerns.”

The BIS Select Committee were quick to question Mr Hayes about whether the increase in adult apprentices could be attributed to existing employees.

 If I felt that apprenticeships were merely being used to accredit existing competencies, then I would be concerned”

The skills minister replied: “The overwhelming majority of 25+ apprenticeships are already employed, but I simply strike this warning note on that – the real issue is how many are employed for how long.

“So if people were employed for a year or two years, they were new employees and the training was part of their induction with the skills necessary to do their job.

“That would be rather different to those who have been with a company for a very long time and were looking to use an apprenticeship to up skill.”

He added: “Both are legitimate, but they’re also rather different.”

The skills minister also defended the new 12 month minimum duration for all apprenticeships, due to be implemented in August, as a measure to improve additionality and remove unnecessary ‘dead-weight’.

“If I felt that apprenticeships were merely being used to accredit existing competencies, then I would be concerned,” Mr Hayes told the Committee.

“I think it’s absolutely right that apprenticeships, whoever does them, add to skills and that’s partly about the rigor of the system and one of the reasons why I extended the time for adult apprentices.”

He added: “A lot of people think I’ve been too tough on this…some of the learning providers said ‘well there’s been so much prior attainment amongst older people, there will be so much greater employability skills then there might be for a 16 year-old, so these apprenticeships can be completed in a shorter time’.

“But I actually insisted and I resisted that argument in order to ensure that what was taught and tested was meaningful and additional.”

Ann McKechin, MP for Glasgow North and a member of the BIS Select Committee, questioned Mr Hayes at length about the apprenticeship scheme delivered by Elmfield Training at Morrisons.

She said: “Morrisons is one of our major retailers with a turnover of over £1 billion a year – or probably much in excess of that – so I think the taxpayer is going to ask why shouldn’t Morrisons be paying for this?”

However, Mr Hayes defended the scheme resolutely and said it had “a number of things to recommend it”.

“Morrisons has employed 49,500 people since 2009 (who were) extra people or new people,” he said.

Of course people who supply goods and services to government make profits”

“Fifty per cent of them were previously unemployed, 50 per cent had no level 2 qualification, and 25 per cent had no qualification at all – many of those are now being put on apprenticeships.

“Eighty-four per cent of the Morrisons apprentices have numeracy and literacy problems – all of which are being tackled by their apprenticeship program, given as I said every apprenticeship must head towards a GCSE equivalent in maths and english.”

The skills minister later added that he didn’t want to be associated with a view that Morrisons apprenticeships “are not adding value”.

Ann McKechin followed up her question by asking the minister how the government valuated benefits made ‘in-kind’ by employers.

“My concern is when we took evidence from NAS, and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), they said they had no criteria for assessing benefits in-kind,” she said.

“They had no guidance of which they issued about how to value benefit in-kind, and yet employers are, if the employee is over 19, supposed to contribute a significant share, either in cash or benefit in-kind.”

The minister said his Department had research relating to the issue which they would be happy to provide the Committee at a later date.

Ann McKechin also questioned the skills minister about the significant profits taken by Elmfield Training, one of the providers which delivers apprenticeships at Morrisons.

Mr Hayes replied: “If government took the view that none of the organisations in which it deals or collaborated to deliver public programmes, should not make profits, my goodness we would have to close down a great deal of what any government has ever done.

“So of course people who supply goods and services to government make profits.

“That is the nature of the relationship between the public and the private sector.”

Mr Hayes also told the Committee that while the apprenticeship programme was filling “a much bigger footprint” than before, other types of vocational training shouldn’t be forgotten.

“I think there is a case for other work based training apart from apprenticeships,” he said.

“Of course as long as that training is meaningful and rigorous, it deserves its place in the sun too.

“Much of what FE colleges do, much of what businesses do, exists outside the apprenticeship framework.”

The minister suggested that more employers, particularly SMEs and medium-sized businesses, could be brought into the apprenticeship programme.

Mr Hayes said the first step was to ensure “that the apprenticeship frameworks match real commercial need”, and were created in a way that reflected the interests of employers.

The second step, he said, was to engage them through schemes such as the new Employer Ownership pilot, which is offering firms direct funding from a ‘pot’ worth up to £250 million.

“We said to employers, we want you to get involved in shaping the skills system,” Mr Hayes said.

“We’ve just had the responses to that invitation…employers working with education providers to look at how they can shape apprenticeships, as well as new and fresh ways to match their needs.”

Short apprenticeships offer “no real benefit,” say MPs

Apprenticeships delivered in six months or less offer “no real benefit” to learners or employers, according to a report published by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Margaret Hodge MP, who chaired the panel, says she is concerned that roughly one in five apprenticeships (19 per cent) were delivered in six months or less during 2010/11.

“The danger is that apprenticeships lasting such a short time are of no real benefit to either the individuals who take part or employers and could devalue the programme,” Ms Hodge said.

“I am pleased therefore that the skills minister announced recently that adult apprenticeships will last a minimum of six months and normally at least 12 months.”

However, the growth in adult apprenticeships has been branded a “success” by the PAC.

The panel of backbench MPs says the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) “has done very well” to more than quadruple the number of adult apprentices in the four years leading up to 2010/11.

“We recognise the significant achievement of the Department and its partners in raising both the number of adult apprentices and the percentage who successfully complete their apprenticeship,” the report reads.

The report later suggests that the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) could be overpaying private training providers due to “out-of-date” funding rates.

“The Service does not know what level of profits providers are making on different types of apprenticeships,” the report reads.

“Nor does it know whether it is subsidising some apprenticeships more than others.”

It later adds: “There is also evidence to suggest some providers are providing training without receiving the expected contribution from employers.

“The Service should work closely with the Agency to link the funding it provides more closely with the delivery costs.”

Ms Hodge said: “If the Service is to get better at targeting of resources, it needs to understand better which apprenticeships in which sectors deliver the best value for money.

“It doesn’t currently know what levels of profit the providers are making and whether it is paying them too much for some types of apprenticeship.”

The PAC report also calls for a structural review of the NAS and Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to ensure there is “minimal duplication” in their responsibilities

“The relationship between the NAS and SFA remains unclear,” the report reads.

“The way in which the two bodies interact, and the question of who is responsible and accountable for what, still needs to be clarified.

“This will be particularly important to settle during 2012, given the Department needs to appoint new permanent chief executives in each body.”

The skills minister, speaking at an evidence session held by the BIS Select Committee for their inquiry into apprenticeships last week, admitted there was “an argument for changing the way the SFA is structured.”

“No government gets all these things right and I remember when we were in opposition looking at the SFA and the NAS, talking about whether that was the right structure and whether the existing arrangements with the SFA, where it’s an external body – not a permanent body – was right,” Mr Hayes told the Committee.

“I’ve increasingly come to the view that we need to bring that more in-house…and we’re looking very closely at that now.”

Short apprenticeships offer “no real benefit,” say MPs

Apprenticeships delivered in six months or less offer “no real benefit” to learners or employers, according to a report published by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Margaret Hodge MP, who chaired the panel, says she is concerned that roughly one in five apprenticeships (19 per cent) were delivered in six months or less during 2010/11.

“The danger is that apprenticeships lasting such a short time are of no real benefit to either the individuals who take part or employers and could devalue the programme,” Ms Hodge said.

“I am pleased therefore that the skills minister announced recently that adult apprenticeships will last a minimum of six months and normally at least 12 months.”

However, the growth in adult apprenticeships has been branded a “success” by the PAC.

The panel of backbench MPs says the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) “has done very well” to more than quadruple the number of adult apprentices in the four years leading up to 2010/11.

“We recognise the significant achievement of the Department and its partners in raising both the number of adult apprentices and the percentage who successfully complete their apprenticeship,” the report reads.

The relationship between the NAS and SFA remains unclear”

The report later suggests that the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) could be overpaying private training providers due to “out-of-date” funding rates.

“The Service does not know what level of profits providers are making on different types of apprenticeships,” the report reads.

“Nor does it know whether it is subsidising some apprenticeships more than others.”

It later adds: “There is also evidence to suggest some providers are providing training without receiving the expected contribution from employers.

“The Service should work closely with the Agency to link the funding it provides more closely with the delivery costs.”

Ms Hodge said: “If the Service is to get better at targeting of resources, it needs to understand better which apprenticeships in which sectors deliver the best value for money.

“It doesn’t currently know what levels of profit the providers are making and whether it is paying them too much for some types of apprenticeship.”

The PAC report also calls for a structural review of the NAS and Skills Funding Agency (SFA) to ensure there is “minimal duplication” in their responsibilities.

“The relationship between the NAS and SFA remains unclear,” the report reads.

“The way in which the two bodies interact, and the question of who is responsible and accountable for what, still needs to be clarified.

“This will be particularly important to settle during 2012, given the Department needs to appoint new permanent chief executives in each body.”

The skills minister, speaking at an evidence session held by the BIS Select Committee for their inquiry into apprenticeships last week, admitted there was “an argument for changing the way the SFA is structured.”

“No government gets all these things right and I remember when we were in opposition looking at the SFA and the NAS, talking about whether that was the right structure and whether the existing arrangements with the SFA, where it’s an external body – not a permanent body – was right,” Mr Hayes told the Committee.

“I’ve increasingly come to the view that we need to bring that more in-house…and we’re looking very closely at that now.”

SFA staff shortlisted for top job

Staff at the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) have been informed that three members of its executive team are in line to replace Geoff Russell as the chief executive.

FE Week understands that the shortlisted candidates are Verity Bullough, Kim Thorneywork and Marinos Paphitis.

Mr Russell announced his decision to step down in January, having informed the SFA in August last year. It came just a month after the Agency was stripped of its statutory post holder status by the government. He agreed to remain in his position until the end of July to oversee the restructuring of the Agency.

The executive director of capacity and infrastructure, Ms Bullough, joined the organisation in 2000. Previously she had been working as a senior adviser at the North London Training and Enterprise Council (NLTEC).

She has held a number of senior positions within the SFA, including national director of funding, planning and performance, and has worked in education since gaining a law degree from Oxford University.

Ms Thorneywork was recently promoted to be the executive director of delivery in May 2011 and leads its work on funding policy, investment and provider performance. She moved to the Agency to be the area director for Coventry and Warwickshire in 2006, after having worked as an inspector for Ofsted and a science teacher in Walsall.

When the SFA replaced the Learning and Skills Council in April 2010 she became the senior account director for the west midlands, with a portfolio of 33 FE colleges and over 160 training organisations.

The executive director for the south, Mr Paphitis, has responsibility for all aspects of stakeholder and provider relationships in the south of England. Additionally, he has been responsible for the Wiltshire, Swindon and Gloucestershire area, as well as Somerset. During his time in the south west, Mr Paphitis led the development and performance of apprenticeships. Prior to joining the SFA in 2001 he worked as a director of the National Contracts Service, which later became the National Employer Service.

His brother is Theo Paphitis, best known for his starring role on the BBC’s Dragons’ Den.

On the same day in January that Mr Russell made his announcement, Simon Waugh said he was stepping down as the chief executive of the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) and he left at the end of March.

When the story broke, Gordon Marsden, the shadow minister for FE, skills and regional growth, criticised the department for Business Innovation and Skills for not having found a successor for Mr Russell, despite him having informed the government a few months beforehand.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) told FE Week: “We wont be make any comment while the recruitment process is ongoing but we will let you know when we are ready to make an announcement.”