FGB at Future of Apprenticeships Symposium in London

On March 9th, FGB’s Terence Hogarth will be chairing the “Future of Apprenticeships: Closing the Skills Gap and Boosting Productivity” Symposium in London hosted by Public Policy Exchange.

Further details can be found here.

In 2015/16, the total number of people undertaking an apprenticeship stood at 904,800, more than ever, with 509,400 beginning over the course of the 12 month period. Apprenticeships have a critical role to play, not only in furnishing young people with important skills, but also in developing a highly skilled and productive workforce that underpins economic prosperity. British workers are presently 30% less productive than those in France and Germany; whilst the CBI’s annual survey this year found that 69% of employers are concerned about an inability to locate highly skilled staff in the UK. The Government’s ambition to create 3 million apprenticeships by 2020 therefore has an important role to play in ameliorating these issues.

Over the last year the Government has enacted a number of measures to boost apprenticeship numbers.  From April 2016 employers have been exonerated from their requirement to pay National Insurance contributions for apprenticeships under 25, whilst the 2016 Autumn Statement announced a minimum wage rise, of 10p to £3.50 per hour, for apprentices under 19 or in the first year of their programme. Moreover, from April 2017, in an effort to unlock £2.5bn of investment by 2020, the Government is introducing a 0.5% levy on employers with a pay bill of over £3 million, whilst guaranteeing businesses below this threshold that 90% of their apprenticeship costs will be met by the state. Extra support, worth £2000 per trainee, will also be available to employers and training providers that take on 16-18 year olds, whilst employers with less than 50 staff will not have to pay anything to train under 19s.

However, the Government’s approach has faced some criticism as well as praise, and progress is certainly required to help tackle the UKs skills gap and productivity crisis. An Ofsted report in October 2015 concluded that too many apprenticeships are of poor quality, failing to provide the skills and knowledge employers need. This could be exacerbated by proposals to cut funding rates for some colleges and training providers by 30-50% from May 2017. In addition to potentially compromising the ability of providers to deliver good quality apprenticeship programmes for employers and apprentices, recent analysis by FE Week suggests that these changes will disproportionately hit 16-18 year olds. This is critical, as the number of 16-18 year old apprentices is as low today as a decade ago.

With Brexit potentially restricting British employers’ flexibility to access skills from abroad, this symposium will provide local authorities, training providers, employers and further education providers with an invaluable and timely opportunity to support the expansion of high quality apprenticeships which address skill shortages and are responsive to the long term aspirations of employers and young people.   

Delegates Will

• Examine the Government’s vision for apprenticeships and the progress made in implementing reforms.
• Discuss how to promote high-quality training and ensure that apprenticeships enhance learner’s skills and prospects for long term employment.
• Assess how more apprenticeships can provide advanced professional skills in sectors experiencing shortages.
• Learn how employers can use the new digital apprenticeship service to choose training providers and post apprenticeship vacancies.
• Scrutinise how to improve links between training providers and employers and help the latter identify the skills they need to grow.
• Consider how programmes of learning can be planned collaboratively by employers and education professionals to create clear and explicit paths to employment.
• Explore how secondary schools can better promote apprenticeships to young people.
• Analyse how small and medium sized enterprises can become increasing involved in apprentice training and recruitment.
• Determine how to minimise the variability in training quality and boost the numbers of 16-18 year olds taking up apprenticeships.
• Share examples of successful apprenticeship training and recruitment.

For registration, you can find more information here.