The number of vacancies on the government’s Find An Apprenticeship website plummeted by more than 80 per cent in each of the first two full months of lockdown.

“Repurposed” data published by the Department for Education on Thursday showed apprenticeship vacancy figures for the first time since they were last published in 2017.

The figures reveal that in April and May 2020, there were 2,020 and 1,850 employer vacancies for apprentices, which compares to 10,400 and 12,580 in the same months of 2019 respectively.

It comes as the government works on policy to encourage businesses to take on more apprentices as part of their Covid-19 recovery plan.

Prime minister Boris Johnson sent a letter to Commons Liaison Committee chair Sir Bernard Jenkin last week and stated: “We are looking at how we can support employers, especially small businesses, to take on new apprenticeships this year and will provide detail in due course.”

Director of apprenticeships in the Education and Skills Funding Agency, Peter Mucklow, said on Friday that discussions were underway with Treasury about what “incentives” they can give employers to take on more apprentices.

Johnson has previously said he thinks all young people should be given an apprenticeship “guarantee” following the pandemic.

It was reported by The Sun last night that chancellor Rishi Sunak could handout £3,000 to employers  for each apprentice under the age of 25 they hire.

A number of high-profile businesses have announced large-scale apprentice recruitment drives in recent weeks.

British multinational defence, security, and aerospace company BAE Systems, for example, has announced they are continuing with plans to recruit 800 apprentices – a “record” number – this year.

Yesterday, the UK’s largest independent travel agency, Hays Travel, announced plans to take on 700 apprentices nationwide.

Commentary published alongside the DfE’s vacancy data said the figures from Find An Apprenticeship represent “only a subset of the total number of vacancies available across the marketplace as a whole, as many apprenticeships are not advertised through this website”.

The department did used to publish data on apprenticeship vacancies but this stopped back in 2017.

They have begun publishing it again as part of their efforts to “repurpose our statistics and commentary to make them more relevant to the current pandemic”.

A spokesperson said as part of this, the DfE has been considering other data and intelligence that they may want to consider releasing – for example “we’ve started providing the very latest month of starts that we don’t usually do given high levels of underreporting when first submitted by providers”.

“We’re only doing this temporarily for transparency purposes and to evidence whether there is continuing activity in the apprenticeship programme in a more timely manner,” they added.

“Similarly we have decided to publish apprenticeship vacancy data at this point as we believe users will find this a useful piece of information currently, especially if in future months we start seeing signs of a recovery, which an increase in vacancies may indicate – this doesn’t mean we will return to publishing vacancies data as before, but during the affected period we believe it provides additional valuable insights for our users.”

 

The government is to make £200 million of its £1.5 billion college capital funding pot available from this September – a year earlier than planned, prime minister Boris Johnson has announced tonight.

The cash for repairs and upgrades to college buildings and estates was promised by chancellor Rishi Sunak in his March budget but the five-year project was supposed to start in 2021.

Johnson has now said that £200 million of the investment will be accessible this year.

It comes alongside a ten-year “rebuilding programme” for schools also announced by the prime minister tonight, which includes £560 million being made available to them this year for refurbishment.

A government spokesperson said this “fast tracked” activity will “further support the government’s wider plans to protect jobs and incomes and drive forward the country’s economic recovery from the [Covid-19] pandemic”.

Johnson said: “As we bounce back from the pandemic, it’s important we lay the foundations for a country where everyone has the opportunity to succeed, with our younger generations front and centre of this mission.  

“This major new investment will make sure our schools and colleges are fit for the future, with better facilities and brand new buildings so that every child gets a world-class education.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said this is a “good first step by the government to support colleges to be central players in the country’s recovery”.

“For colleges, they will be desperate to have the resources quickly, so I hope this is delivered through a simple formula which grants the money with minimum bureaucracy.

“That way, colleges can invest in the repairs, adaptations, equipment and crucially the digital infrastructure they need to provide a great learning experience from September.”

The government previously told FE Week that the capital fund will require colleges to match the funding with 21 per cent – so for every £1 invested by the government, “we are expecting an average 21p college contribution”.

Hughes continued: “The overall package of £1.5 billion committed in the March Budget will only be sufficient if colleges are financially healthy enough to secure commercial borrowing to extend the fund, and that is in doubt unless further revenue investment comes very soon.  

“Overall this is a very welcome announcement which will show college leaders that they are viewed by the government as a vital part of the recovery effort. They want to be, and can be with the right investment.”

Education secretary Gavin Williamson said: “Replacing and upgrading poor condition school and college buildings with modern, energy efficient designs will give our students and teachers the environment they deserve, and support them to maximise their potential.

“As we look forward to this September and all children returning to school, we can be assured that for years to come this country’s education system will drive opportunity and prosperity for all.”

And minister for apprenticeships and skills Gillian Keegan said: “This investment is fantastic news for colleges and means they can kick start work to refurbish their facilities and equipment from as early as this September.

“The FE sector will play a pivotal role in our economic recovery post-Covid-19, ensuring more people can gain the skills they need to get ahead. This is just the start of work to transform the FE sector including making sure students have access to high quality, fit for purpose facilities and are great places to learn.”

She added that the Department for Education will set out further details of how the £200 million college capital funding will be allocated “in due course”.

 

The head of Ofqual’s vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) department is stepping down.

Phil Beach, who is currently leading the regulator’s Covid-19 response across further education providers and students for cancelled exams, will leave to become chief executive of Energy and Utility Skills – a membership body for the utility workforce – on September 21.

Ofqual said arrangements to secure his successor are being made.

Beach joined the regulator in January 2015 as the director of strategic relationships for general qualifications before becoming its executive director for vocational and technical qualifications.

“We are delighted for Phil, and wish him every success with this new opportunity,” a spokesperson for Ofqual told FE Week, adding that he has “done much to shape and improve the quality of the complex VTQs landscape”.

“Under his direction the regulation of VTQs has strengthened, as has Ofqual’s regulation of the awarding organisation market. This has, of course, been most noticeable over the recent months as he has steered us through the arrangements for awarding VTQs this spring and summer.

“Phil will continue to lead this work until he moves to his new role in September, over which period arrangements to secure his successor will progress.”

Before he joined Ofqual, Beach served in the Royal Air Force. He received an MBE in the 2000 New Year’s Honours List, a Queen’s Commendation in 2004 and a CBE in 2014.

Beach said he was “delighted to be joining Energy and Utility Skills at such an important time for the organisation and the sector”. 

 

Kate Green has been appointed as the new shadow education secretary.

The MP for Stretford and Urmston, a former chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, replaces Rebecca Long-Bailey, who was sacked on Thursday.

She has previously served as a shadow minister for disabled people, shadow minister for women and equalities and shadow minister for child poverty strategy.

Green said: “It’s a privilege to have been asked to serve as shadow education secretary.

“The coronavirus pandemic has had a devastating impact on children’s education. I look forward to working with teachers, unions, parents and councils to help ensure we get our children back in school as soon as possible.”

The Education and Skills Funding Agency’s director for apprenticeships has revealed that discussions are underway with Treasury about what “incentives” they can give employers as part of the prime minister’s “apprenticeship guarantee” pledge.

Peter Mucklow revealed the first bit of detail of how the proposal might work during an Association of Employment and Learning Providers webinar this morning, in which he said apprenticeships are “central to the government’s view on recovery” from Covid-19.

“We are looking at what incentives can be provided including to employers to incentivise them to make more new starts available than would otherwise be the case given the current lack of confidence or indeed available funds for many employers,” he explained.

“That is something we are discussing internally and with Treasury.”

Mucklow, who was previously the ESFA’s director of further education but got moved to the apprenticeships role after Keith Smith left for the Department for Education last month, added that an apprenticeships guarantee also means ensuring “that we have sufficient budgets to meet small and medium sized enterprises ambition to recruit”.

“That is in relation to contracts but also numbers of SMEs coming forward and we have the money in the budget to meet that demand.

“Specifically, [those are] the three things we can take away from that apprenticeship guarantee statement and you might expect more to be said over the coming weeks on that.”

His comments come three weeks after prime minsiter Boris Johnson told the nation during a coronavirus briefing that young people “should be guaranteed an apprenticeship” after warning of “many, many job losses” expected from the fallout of Covid-19.

Various sector bodies, such as the AELP and the Association of Colleges, have since said that wage subsidies would have to be central to the policy to make it a reality.

Apprenticeship starts have continued to drop sharply since the outbreak of coronavirus. Data published yesterday by the Department for Education showed that from March 23 – when lockdown began – to May 31 there were 26,090 starts compared to the 50,050 reported between those months in 2019 – a fall of 47.9 per cent.

Skills minister Gillian Keegan told an FE Week webcast in April that her “biggest worry” during the Covid-19 pandemic is the “recruitment of new apprentices”.

Mucklow told today’s AELP webinar that the government is also looking “more broadly” than apprenticeships to areas such as traineeships.

“Apprenticeships depend on some things that we can’t control while we might be able to incentivise them so we are really interested in what we can do to improve and expand traineeships for example,” he said.

“I haven’t got time to say anything more on that but that could also provide some significant opportunities.”

Johnson and the chancellor Rishi Sunak are expected to announce their Covid-19 recovery strategy in the coming weeks and reports suggest skills and training will be at the heart of their plan.

 

The Education and Skills Funding Agency’s new director for apprenticeships has pledged more “collaboration, communication, and clarity” as he bids to “strengthen relationships” with training providers.

Statements on building greater partnerships have this afternoon been published by Peter Mucklow, Association of Colleges boss David Hughes, and Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Mark Dawe.

They come as the government develops its recovery package following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mucklow, who took over the top apprenticeships role from Keith Smith in the ESFA last month, said that since his appointment, he has been “immensely proud of the tenacity and adaptability of our innovative provider base, employers of all sizes, apprentices, end-point assessment organisations and wider stakeholders in dealing admirably to the situation we find ourselves in”.

However, “I can see opportunities for improvement in how we work with you all,” he added.

“A great apprenticeship requires an equal contribution from employers, apprentices and providers. As we look to develop and deliver a recovery package to support employers, individuals and the economic recovery, I want to strengthen how the apprenticeships directorate works with all apprenticeship providers.”

Mucklow said he wants collaboration “to be the ‘golden thread’ that permeates through all our relationships for the benefit of apprentices and employers”.

“I want early and meaningful communication and engagement with the sector about our plans. Trusted communication is two-way and I want to focus more on bringing our providers closer together with the ESFA through greater – and more productive – partnerships on the ground.

“Finally, I want a greater clarity about the future of apprenticeships; a common understanding of the clear benefits and value that apprenticeships bring to employers, apprentices, local communities, and the economy.

“Collaboration, communication, and clarity. That’s my commitment to the sector.”

Hughes said he was “pleased” that ESFA recognises the partnerships it needs to forge with colleges and other providers.

“An apprenticeship is a complex animal, requiring joined-up action and commitment from the apprentice themselves, alongside the employer, the college or training provider and government,” he added.

“Reflecting that collaboration is important in communications and policy.”

Dawe said AELP was “delighted to have had constructive conversations with ESFA and welcomes this announcement by Peter Mucklow which offers greater collaboration, communication and clarity, as we work together on making apprenticeships a vital component of the economic recovery”.

“Having performed miracles to keep thousands of apprentices learning remotely during the lockdown, providers are now facing the challenge of keeping apprentices in employment as the furlough scheme ends and AELP knows that they will pull out all the stops in doing so,” he added.

“We also want to generate new opportunities and this means encouraging employers to look at the benefits of the programme. As Peter says, this can only happen if there is a common understanding between ESFA, AoC and AELP, working with the local provider groups, on the messages to employers, apprentices and other stakeholders such as parents and teachers.

“The pandemic has reminded us that out of adversity comes opportunity, and AELP sees this new approach from the ESFA as a fresh chapter in collaboration which should help transform the skills landscape across the country. “

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education is delaying its decision on whether to remove the integrated degree from the popular digital solutions apprenticeship as it launches a wider review of its mandated qualifications policy.

A review into the level 6 digital and technology solutions professional (DTSP) standard was first launched two years ago and will decide whether or not to remove the degree from the apprenticeship.

But the quango said today it is postponing the decision and will now conduct a “broader review of policy on degree apprenticeships” at level 6.

In a statement the IfATE said: “We are listening to employers and taking time to review plans for an updated DTSP apprenticeship. We will conduct a broader review of policy on degree apprenticeships and take a look again at the DTSP standard in light of the review.  

“Students can continue to start on the existing DTSP apprenticeship and degree apprenticeships at level 6 will continue to play an important role in the overall programme.”

They added: “We are listening and taking the time to consider all of the different points of view here. We did not want to make a decision without doing that.”

There are 39 apprenticeship standards with an integrated degree which are currently available for delivery at the moment.

The DTSP is very popular with universities and has had 5,219 starts so far with a maximum funding cap of £25,000 each.