Partner Article

Apprentice numbers will plummet warns Northumbria Learning Providers

An influential, professional body of north east training providers has reacted strongly in opposition to a recommendation of a recent government review of apprenticeships.

Chairman of Northumbria Learning Providers (NLP), Malcolm Armstrong, has spoken out in response to a suggestion made in the Holt Review that SMEs should have the power and freedom to shape their own apprenticeships and that training providers should take more of a back seat.

Mr Armstrong strongly disagrees: “Our members work with many hundreds of small businesses throughout the region and from our experience, SMEs want to concentrate on running their busy companies and contributing to getting the economy back on its feet.

“They haven’t got the time to be proactive enough to plan their own apprenticeship frameworks, seek out and contract with training providers - and arrange bespoke provision – identifying appropriate qualifications and courses.

“Most SMEs are happy to work with a training provider and are relieved to pass on this responsibility to us. If they had to do all that themselves, apprentice numbers would plummet,” he said.

According to Jason Holt, the jewellery entrepreneur commissioned by the government to undertake the review, the existing apprenticeships programme is “misunderstood and inaccessible, not always helped by a plethora of organisations willing to give – sometimes conflicting – advice.”

The government said it would make taking on apprenticeships simpler and more accessible in response to what Mr Holt called a “lack of awareness and insufficient SME empowerment” in the current system.

In response, Mr Armstrong points out that the latest national employer survey on apprenticeships, which asked over 4,000 employers their views, showed high levels of satisfaction with training providers and the support they provide to businesses.

Malcolm adds: “Mr Holt acknowledges that overwhelmingly employers get engaged in apprenticeships as a direct result of a training provider proactively contacting and encouraging them to do so. However, he goes on to say that training providers shouldn’t be doing that. Training providers are not even paid to do this, or the health and safety checks, or the contact with schools, or the up-front information, advice and guidance for individuals but we do it for the benefit of busy SMEs that require quality apprentices and for the benefit of apprenticeships overall.”

Mr Holt says that an apprenticeship as a career path is not given a high profile in schools, meaning parents do not encourage young people to consider it as a desirable career option. The government believes that it should be up to schools, together with local partners including employers, to determine how best to address this challenge.

Northumbria Learning Providers agrees that vocational training should be better promoted in schools but is concerned that conflicting agendas of schools and the lack of resources of employers will prevent them properly addressing this issue.

Mr Armstrong said: “We do agree that more engagement with schools on apprenticeships would be advantageous but schools are not always comfortable promoting apprenticeships when many have sixth form places to fill. What we need are sufficient numbers of independent careers advisors who can advise on all further education and vocational options.”

The government said the independent careers’ advisers who will be working with schools across the UK from September will provide more information on vocational options.

Northumbria Learning Providers (NLP) is an influential network of 46 training providers working in Northumberland, North Tyneside, Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland and South Tyneside.

Its members include independent training providers, colleges, employers, local authorities and voluntary organisations.

NLP members deliver vocational training for hundreds of employers and thousands of learners across the north east.

For more information log on to www.northumbrialp.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jill Farmer (Dobson) .