Time for 'blue skies thinking' on apprenticeships

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John Andrews, chief executive of the National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers, outlines ways in which apprenticeships can become more innovative.

Has enough been done to promote the potential of apprenticeships to contribute to economic growth?

With around 1,000,000 young people still out of work, then we have to say unfortunately not, although we do feel that the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) is working very hard to correct this.

In our opinion, despite being like every other public service under severe financial pressure, NAS is one of the few government departments or quangos that is genuinely making a real difference, and I am pleased to say that many of the ideas that we at NAPIT have been championing over the last two years are coming to the fore in government thinking.

In the current economic climate, Apprenticeships are still being seen by many, both in and out of government, as a cost, when in fact they must be seen as an investment. It is estimated that UK plc sees £18 of return for every £1 of investment.

NAPIT has previously called on the government to adopt more 'blue skies thinking' on apprenticeships. How can apprenticeships become more innovative?

Many small businesses would be willing to take on an apprentice, but the harsh reality of the current economic climate is that they just cannot afford to, especially to meet the early-years costs.

There are a number of alternatives available including, but not limited to:

1.More 'not for profit' organisations, maybe Trade Bodies, 'employing' apprentices and then putting them on placement into appropriate companies.

2. SMEs 'sharing' an apprentice between several companies, without losing the financial support that is available.

3. Levies on all companies in a specific sector, to enable costs for participating companies to be shared between more purses.

4. Offsetting a company's NI or Capital Gains tax as contributed costs when apprentices are employed by SMEs.

5. Only awarding public contracts to companies that meet a certain level of apprentices per workforce size but with SMEs exempt, unless options 1, 2 or 3 above are available.

6. Giving more say to trade bodies representing either employees or employers in the content of frameworks available for apprenticeships, and reducing dogma and bureaucracy by vested interest.

7. Making the Sector Skills Councils far more accountable to both industry and government: at the moment they appear to be accountable to no-one.

8. Allowing employers themselves to attract the funding to pay for training, which will ensure that training is more closely targeted to business needs.

Is NAPIT an advocate of all-age apprenticeships?

Yes, although in our view the overriding priority at Advanced Apprenticeship level is for younger people, in order to foster the development of the employment ethic amongst the next generation.

However, we firmly believe that apprenticeships can and should be offered to all ages as a means of up-skilling existing employees, or for mature applicants as a way of implementing career changes to take account of demographic and other changes in the employment needs of business.

NAPIT currently runs an advanced apprenticeship in microgeneration. Could you tell us a little bit about this?

As well as extending the skills of electricians, plumbers and heating engineers in renewable technologies to provide a short-term solution to the current shortfall in this sector, the NAPIT Scheme is intended to offer both Advanced and Higher Apprenticeships in Renewable Technologies and is designed to eventually provide seamless progression from school (NVQ Level 1) through four years of study to a craft qualification (NVQ Level 3) and on to a foundation degree (NVQ Level 4 (1 year)) and full degree (NVQ Level 5 (2 years)), whilst also allowing direct entry at the Higher Apprenticeship level for mature apprentices either directly from the 6th Form with appropriate A-levels, or Armed Forces engineers or engineers already in industry holding qualifications at NVQ Level 3.

What are NAPIT’s views on the funding of apprenticeships? What changes to the current funding system would you advocate?

As intimated earlier, we feel that an investment by the public purse is essential if SMEs are to be able to afford the cost of an apprentice, and it must be recognised that SMEs employ 58.8 per cent of all private sector employees in the UK, employing 23.4 million employees (source BIS), so without more support, a very valuable training resource is being squandered.

Funding for training by either public or private providers should be directed via employers to ensure that only the training that is of direct or future commercial benefit to employers is supported – providing, of course, that it follows the agreed Apprenticeship Framework.

We feel that for SMEs, in a typical three-year apprenticeship, then year one should attract financial support for the full salary cost; year two should attract 50 per cent financial support; with year three being funded by the sponsoring company. This still leaves the company paying all other costs.

Even at this level of funding in the first year, the sponsoring company still has to provide support for the apprentice over and above their salary cost, so the risk of this type of scheme being abused by companies is very low.

The recent NAS announcement of the £1,500 grant from April 2012 to SMEs who take on an apprentice is certainly a step in the right direction, but in our view it needs increasing significantly.

Even the National Audit Office in its recent report agrees that apprenticeships are an excellent return on investment for government, and it is investment in the right areas that will secure the UK’s economic future.

Has the coalition government demonstrated a real commitment to apprenticeships or have they merely paid lip service to the benefits that they provide?

Our view is that they have made real commitment, but more needs to be done and a concerted effort needs to be made to increase the amount of financial support available.

John Hayes (minister for skills) needs to persuade the chancellor and the Treasury to find even more funds to invest in the various NAS initiatives.

There also needs to be a focus on skills which will be of the most benefit to the UK economy going forward, with more funding being available for apprenticeships requiring higher skills attracting the highest funding levels.

For instance, the NAPIT Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme in Renewable Technologies is a four-year scheme, but currently training cost support is limited to just three years – why?

Colleges also need extra encouragement and support for courses and skills that may be more expensive to teach and heavy on practical skills and science, but essential for UK plc’s future prosperity, rather than ones which require virtually no resource yet attract the same level of funding.

The government and NAS still need to do more work with schools (and teachers) to encourage more young people to consider starting their career as an apprentice, rather than trying to get as many young people as possible into a degree – the vast majority of work opportunities in the UK do not require a degree level of education.

More work needs to be done in schools to ensure that teachers have a better understanding of the world of work in the private sector, that the basics are well taught, including the harsh reality ‘that no-one is owed a living’, to minimise the efforts that have to be made after school to reach an acceptable educational level and a realistic attitude to the work ethic that is essential to enable an Advanced or Higher Apprenticeship to be undertaken.