Apprenticeship starts were down 31 per cent in January on the same period in 2017, the latest provisional government statistics have revealed.

The news comes just days after the chancellor Philip Hammond admitted to Parliament that he had expected the apprenticeship levy would usher in a fall in starts – but not quite to this extent.

There were 25,400 starts in the first month of 2018 – down 11,300 from January 2017’s provisional total of 36,700, according to the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s monthly apprenticeship statistics update, published April 19.

The latest figures represent a bigger proportionate drop than in December, which saw a 23-per-cent year-on-year fall in starts. 

“I recognise that starts are down—we always expected that,” he said during Treasury questions on April 17.

“There are fewer starts than we expected, but we are seeing a much higher level of apprenticeship. The Department for Education and the Treasury are looking carefully at how this is working.”

David Hughes, boss of the Association of Colleges, wants the government to “engage with colleges and employers to work out how to stimulate growth where it has fallen”.

This might include more outreach and “developing provision to encourage reluctant employers to engage in the system”.

“Where standards are not ready yet, frameworks should be fully-funded and there should be more support for pre-apprenticeship training to help people get ready for their apprenticeship,” he said.

Mark Dawe, Mr Hughes’ counterpart at the Association of the Employment and Learning Providers, warned that the government is “creating social immobility” through the apprenticeship system.

“The government said at the end of last year that its funding priorities lay with levy-payers, and this has been borne out by the fact that nearly half all starts can now be found in large employers and this proportion continues to grow,” he said. 

“Given many levy-payers across the country are concentrating on higher level starts, it’s no wonder that we’ve seen a massive collapse in level two starts and starts for 16- to 18-year-olds.”

Apprenticeship figures from August 2017 onwards remain provisional, and the DfE stresses that they are subject to change; starts for recent months have generally been revised up since they were first published.

There have now been 206,100 starts recorded to date for 2017/18, which represents a 24-per-cent drop on the same period last year.

Of these, 44 per cent have been at level two, which is nine percentage points lower than 2016/17’s final share of 53 per cent.

Meanwhile, 11 per cent of starts so far this year have been at level four or above, an increase of four points on last year’s final share of seven per cent.

Last month the skills minister admitted that fears over a “middle-class grab” on apprenticeships are valid, given that the “one area where starts have gone up is at degree level”.

“I feel quite strongly that an apprenticeship can offer social mobility, so I sit and wait and watch,” Anne Milton told a House of Lords committee hearing on March 13.

In response to the latest statistics, a DfE spokesperson said its reforms were “about increasing the number of quality apprenticeships, so people of all ages and backgrounds can take advantage of the opportunities apprenticeships bring”.

“We have recently seen an increase in the number of people starting on higher level apprenticeships”, which had been “designed by employers themselves to meet their needs,” she continued.

Another University Technical College has been rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, taking the total number in the category to six.

Following an inspection in mid-February, the South Wiltshire UTC was told its leadership and management, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, outcomes for pupils and 16 to 19 study programmes were inadequate.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare of pupils at the UTC was rated as ‘requires improvement’.

Inspectors said expectations of what pupils can achieve are “not high enough”, and work does not challenge pupils of different abilities to realise their potential.

The curriculum at the UTC is not meeting students’ needs because it “lacks the flexibility required”, and staffing issues have exacerbated this problem.

Staff absence, insufficient leadership of teaching and staff shortages means the quality of teaching is “too variable”.

“Too often, teachers do not use progress information or provide adequate guidance to pupils to help them improve their work.”

Pupils are not well prepared for their next steps and do not receive strong careers advice, the report warned.

Ofsted also criticised the progress of disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs, who don’t do as well as their peers at the UTC. Additional funding is not helping to raise their achievement.

On top of this, leaders have not ensured provision for pupils in the sixth form is adequate.

“Students do not make sufficient progress because their study programmes, and the quality of teaching, do not meet their needs,” inspectors warned.

Absence is too high for different groups of pupils, they said.

South Wiltshire UTC, in Salisbury, only opened in 2015. It currently has 215 pupils on roll, but a capacity of 600.

The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities who need support at the UTC is “much higher than average”, Ofsted said.

The report brings the total number of UTCs inspected so far to 30 and the number rated inadequate to six. It means one fifth of UTCs inspected by Ofsted are now ‘inadequate’.

The UTC movement launched in 2011 with the backing of former Conservative education secretary Lord Baker.

These specialist technical education providers are seen by many as unwelcome competition to more established general FE and sixth-form colleges, which consistently return a much higher proportion of higher Ofsted grades.

Joe Mulligan, principal of South Wiltshire UTC, said the outcome of its Ofsted inspection was “disappointing for our students, parents and staff” and that work had already begun to “systematically, robustly and rapidly address every issue identified by Ofsted”.

“The UTC’s priorities have been to focus on both the core and STEM curricula, to raise achievement levels, to create an environment where our students are proud to be part of an energetic, vibrant community, where they feel motivated and supported and where our values around the whole student and employability underpin everything we do; the Ofsted report does not really reflect this,” he added.

Staff at the financially troubled Hull College Group have “overwhelmingly” backed strike action in a bitter dispute over the potential loss of up to 231 full-time jobs.

In total, 170 (79 per cent) of 214 the University and College Union members who voted at the college’s three campuses in Hull, Harrogate and Goole supported industrial action.

Staff will meet on April 19 to discuss potential strike dates and to vote on a motion of no-confidence in HCG chief executive, Michelle Swithenbank.

The row centres on plans announced in March to cut the jobs in an effort to balance the books.

UCU believes that the proposal could lead to around a third of the workforce being cut and would mean “fewer learning opportunities for local people”.

Staff and students joined a lunchtime protest against the job losses outside the college’s Hull site today, after the college had “bizarrely” sent an email to all staff saying that anyone who joined the protest risked doing so illegally.

A spokesperson for UCU said this was “clearly was not the case” and has “questioned if the college was deliberately misinforming staff or did not understand employment law”.  

“Staff feel they now have no option but to take strike action to defend jobs,” said UCU regional official Julie Kelley. “They have little confidence in a senior management team that either doesn’t understand employment law, or has taken to deliberately misinforming staff to try and bully them out of protesting.

“UCU members will be discussing a motion of no confidence in the college chief executive tomorrow.”

The FE commissioner reported in February last year that HCG’s finances remained precarious after the then-Skills Funding Agency had issued a notice of concern in November 2016.

Richard Atkins warned that HCG’s “operating performance, as measured by surplus/deficit after interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation costs has amounted to a cumulative deficit of around £10 million over the past four years”, while “a further deficit in excess of £1 million is forecast for the current year”.

In a previous statement, the college’s chief executive Michelle Swithenbank warned that “some difficult decisions have to be made” to regain stability amid longstanding financial troubles.

In a statement released today, Hull College said: “Industrial action will not resolve the group’s financial and operational issues and we remain committed to an ongoing consultation which seeks to minimise potential job losses and support affected staff.

“We urge our union colleagues to work productively with us through this process and avoid the inevitable disruption the result of this ballot will cause for our current students and ability to recruit new ones.

“We are also aware of a number of planned protests in the city which sadly detract from our students’ achievements and the excellent learning opportunities which continue to be offered at all of our sites.”

A huge training provider that has been educating disadvantaged adults for over 100 years could “disappear” if it loses £7 million as a result of devolution, the House of Lords has heard.

The Workers’ Educational Association expects to lose a third of its income when the adult education budget is devolved starting next year – which will have catastrophic repercussions for an organisation founded in 1903.

Lord Bird (pictured above), the founder of The Big Issue, warned that the WEA faces a huge reduction in student numbers as a result and could effectively “disappear”, during a debate in the upper house on lifelong learning last night.

“Because of localism, which we know is decentralising and bringing the process down to as local as possible around decision making, the WEA will be stripped of about £7 million – about a third of its income,” said the peer, who is a patron.

The net effect of these pressures will be to make cuts to student numbers inevitable

“It will disappear if localism is followed through. They don’t own any buildings or have a shed load of money stacked up somewhere and can’t save for a rainy day because everything is done very simply.”

Seven combined authorities have so far signed devolution deals alongside London to take control of AEB spending in their regions from 2019/20.

WEA, which is rated ‘good’ by Ofsted and has a £19.1 million AEB contract, has a presence in 2,000 locations across England and teaches around 50,000 disadvantaged learners every year.

A spokesperson confirmed to FE Week today that the £7 million figure quoted by Lord Bird is WEA’s estimate for how much it will lose as a result of devolution.

She admitted that while the WEA is not expecting to have to close, it is bracing itself for a substantial reduction in learner numbers “at the time when we are needed most”.

Ruth Spellman, the organisation’s chief executive, explained that the WEA will be affected by devolution of the AEB in three “major” ways.

First, it stands to lose “around a third” of the value of its national contract in 2019/20.

Second, it faces extra costs of contracting, managing, administering, and reporting to all of the mayoral combined authorities, plus managing both its current contract with DfE and contracts which will need to be developed in non-devolution areas.

The third major impact will be to add “risk and uncertainty” to the WEA’s income so that it will be forced to hold additional reserves.

“The net effect of these pressures will be to make cuts to student numbers inevitable at precisely the time when we need to increase our capacity,” said Ms Spellman.

Lord Bird, who spent several spells in prison during his teens and twenties, told the Lords that he himself has been a recipient of lifelong learning, which the WEA was vital to.

“When I was banged up on many occasions there were many people from the WEA who gave us all the classes we wanted around art, brickwork and crafts and sorts of things,” he explained.

He added that if the country wants to stop “shrinking numbers” of adult education, then the government needs to find a way of helping organisations like this.

Viscount Younger of Leckie, who represented the government at last night’s debate, claimed that devolution presents an “opportunity” for providers to develop their provision to meet local needs.

He added it is “important” that organisations like the WEA “begin to make contact with mayoral combined authorities and the greater London authority to start a working relationship and demonstrate the ways they can contribute to meeting skills needs locally”.

“We are already well into talks in each of the MCA and GLA areas – and indeed already deliver provision in all of them,” said Ms Spellman in response. “However, our ability to meet the needs of MCAs – and partners in other non-devolved areas – depends on our sustainability as a national organisation with local delivery.”

The Institute for Apprenticeships is the “biggest threat” to quality in apprenticeships, the boss of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers has warned – in the latest war of words between the two organisations.

Mark Dawe’s (pictured above) comment came this morning during an education select committee hearing, in which he claimed the institute is refusing to listen either to Ofsted and Ofqual.

He described the way the IfA is currently running apprenticeships as a “car crash” and insisted that urgent change is needed.

His attack comes 11 days after the IfA’s boss Sir Gerry Berragan accused the AELP of being “inflammatory” for repeatedly raising concerns over apprenticeships which don’t have end-point assessment organisations in place.

The biggest threat to quality is the IfA at the moment

“The biggest threat to quality is the IfA at the moment,” Mr Dawe said this morning. “They are refusing to listen to Ofsted who say the 20-per-cent off-the-job rule is not a quality measure, [their view] is being ignored.

“They are refusing to use the expertise of Ofqual in terms of reviewing end-point assessment. They are not using Ofqual for external quality-assurance.”

He claimed the AELP is starting to hear what some of its EPA members are calling “horror stories” around the EQA processes they are being asked to do.

“Basically EQA is meant to review the quality of EPAs but it sounds like they [the IfA] are trying to redo the EPA themselves again given the volume of work they are putting in and this has been multiplied 40 times over in the EQA,” he explained.

“We now have reports of employers saying ‘what on earth is going on? We have one EQA organisation demanding one thing and another demanding another’.

“It is a mess to be honest, and the word ‘car crash’ is relevant.”

He told the committee that about five months ago his association presented a review of the 120 apprenticeship standards available, but that since then “there’s been silence from the IfA”.

He added that replacing frameworks has been “too slow” and there are employers who want to start delivering apprenticeships but are being prevented because of this.

“The faster better approach is very welcomed but we’re not seeing it,” Mr Dawe said.

At FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeships Conference last month, IfA boss Sir Gerry said that 99.1 per cent of apprentices due to undertake EPA in the next 12 months were on standards with at least one organisation in place to deliver the final exams – meaning 0.9 per cent of apprentices were not.

At an event in London to mark the first anniversary of the apprenticeship levy on April 6, Paul Warner, AELP’s director of research and development, asked why apprentices had been allowed to start on standards with no EPA organisations in place.

In response, Sir Gerry was reported to have said that neither the apprentices nor their employers considered it a problem, and that AELP was “being inflammatory in consistently raising the issue”.

Speaking to FE Week after the event, Mr Warner said that – far from being inflammatory – the issue was “a point of considerable importance, not least to the apprentices concerned”.

Mr Dawe added: “The government and the agencies keep swerving the question on the true picture of EPA and external quality assurance arrangements being actually able to deliver and the great majority of EPA organisations are working blind. Never in a million years would the current position be accepted for A-levels and GCSEs.”

The IfA has been approached for comment.