Independent training providers will have every right to feel aggrieved that they are not represented on the new board of the Institute for Apprenticeships.
The government sensibly wants a relatively small number of board members, and the plan has always been for the majority of them to be ‘employers’.
But it clearly felt provider representation was still important, as two of the eight spaces went to college principals.
Would it not have been useful, as well as symbolic, to have given one of those spaces to someone from the independent sector, especially considering it delivers the vast majority of apprenticeships?
Sure, there will be a much larger stakeholder group, which we are told will help the board access wider sector expertise.
But the lack of board representation will be viewed as symptomatic of wider lack of understanding at the heart of government about the independent sector contribution.
Let’s hope this is just an oversight, and when practically possible the imbalance can be addressed.
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