Local government leaders have called for the devolution of Apprenticeship Levy responsibilities so they can coordinate investment and link the programme more closely with local needs.
Cllr Paul Carter MBE, leader of Kent County Council, said there were ‘101 good reasons why local government should take the lead on this’ at a recent meeting of the Local Government Association’s (LGA) People and Places Board.
His comments were supported by many others around the table, who also raised concerns about a lack of clarity over how the levy would work.
In a statement the LGA said: 'Paying the Government's new Apprenticeship Levy and meeting national apprenticeship targets will cost councils at least £600m a year.
‘All public and private employers with a wage bill of more than £3m will have to contribute 0.5% in a new Apprenticeship Levy from April 2017 to fund the creation of 3 million new apprenticeships by the end of the decade.
‘The LGA calculates that paying this Levy will cost local authorities £207m a year. The Government has also set all public sector employers an annual target of 2.3% of an employers' workforce to be apprentices. This represents an eight-fold increase and would force councils affected to find an extra £400m in wages.’
The concerns were also echoed by Richard Hayes, chief executive of the Institute of Highways Engineers (IHE), which has recently launched a virtual National Highway Engineering Academy (NHEA) to help tackle the skills crisis in the industry.
Mr Hayes told Transport Network there were fears in the industry that investment from the levy might be focussed on numbers rather than need, and suggested more emphasis should be placed on industry requirements.
He highlighted that the IHE’s academy programme focuses on improving skills throughout people’s careers rather than just at the start, a model he suggested the apprenticeship programme should consider.
He also suggested that a significant role should be given to professional bodies like his own, which are ‘close to industry and employers and know what is needed’.
This could be in the form of ‘part funding, part responsibilities’, he said, highlighting that many professional bodies offer free membership and training support for apprenticeships, which carries costs.
He added that such professional bodies could also support educational outreach programmes in schools.
The IHE is already working on coordinating plans north of the border in Scotland, Mr Hayes revealed. He claimed the devolved nation was ‘somewhat ahead of England’ in terms of producing a more coordinated response to the skills issue.
The NHEA’s academic activities include:
- Providing life long career profile for highways practitioners
- Signposting quality highway professional development opportunities
- Monitoring and addressing highways sector skills needs
- Accrediting learning and training
- Commissioning and promoting PGDip/PDCert in Highway Engineering
- Promoting the highway engineering profession
- Promoting professional registration
- Providing registers for competent highway engineers
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