FSB welcomes further consultation on apprenticeships

This month, we asked guest columnist Lesley Shorrocks, who is Chair of the Plymouth Federation of Small Business and Managing Director of Sigma Marketing & Advertising to talk about the FSB welcoming further consultation on apprenticeships in the Plymouth Herald business supplement. Skills Minister Nick Boles admitted in an interview during his party’s annual conference last year, that the task of getting apprenticeship starts past the 3 million mark by 2020, a goal set for him by the Prime Minister, had made his stomach turn. That’s hardly surprising! He went on to explain that the actual number of employers providing apprenticeships is still tiny and that “we don’t need 10 or 15% of employers doing apprenticeships, we need 40, 50, 60%.” Last year’s Government consultation on The Future of Apprenticeships in England: Funding Reform, had placed the interests and needs of employers at the heart of expanding and improving apprenticeships and invited businesses to comment on it. I found that even wading through the document itself was no easy task and although I know from experience and dialogue with other employers that we want a say in shaping the training our apprentices receive, the plans outlined in the document to make employers pay for up to a third of training costs were hardly likely to encourage participation. So, when the Government announced on 13 January its decision to launch further consultations on funding reforms I thought that this was a wise move. I’ve had some incredibly positive and successful experiences with apprentices but there’s no doubt that devising the right opportunity for your business and for the young person joining you can be time consuming and intensive.  The easier the process can be and the more help and support you can get from a good training provider (such as Skills Group), the better. Above all, you need the process to be straightforward with as little bureaucracy as possible. Lots of successful small businesses realise thatapprenticeships can be a smart investment, but as Mike Cherry the FSB’s National Policy Chairman, says: ‘To feel confident in that outlay, businesses must have trust in the apprenticeship framework. This is why we are pleased that the government is taking the time to get this right, including the decision not to adopt a PAYE-based funding model.” “Small businesses need to shape and drive how the training is delivered, especially if schemes are to attract small and micro businesses, which may not have had an apprentice before. “It is important that whoever wins the next election we maintain momentum on apprenticeships and continue to create a framework that gives both apprentices and businesses the skills they need to succeed.” The government has now pledged further collaboration with employers to develop a funding model that is ‘simple, transparent and works for employers of all sizes‘, so we may well yet get the more SME business-friendly reforms we’d like.

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