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Skills minister updates providers on Functional Skills and Apprenticeships at AELP Autumn Conference
At the AELP autumn conference, sponsored by City and Guilds in Birmingham last week, the skills minister Nick Boles told providers that he was very keen to look at Functional Skills as one of two routes to acquiring good English and maths. He had asked Ofqual to make recommendations with a view to Functional Skills becoming ‘more reliable and consistent’. On Apprenticeships, the minister said that the 3 million target for the programme, which had been announced at the Conservative party conference, had made his ‘stomach churn slightly’ in terms of the size of the challenge. He maintained that he would like all employers to make a cash contribution towards an Apprenticeship but he was ‘nervous’ about actually requiring it. The minister was aiming for greater awareness among young people about the value of Apprenticeships, parents to be proud of their children doing an Apprenticeship and more employers to be on board.
In response, AELP CEO Stewart Segal urged the minister to give employers a choice over how they wish to be funded, arguing that businesses already made a purchasing choice with their choice of provider. The minister believed that it ‘instinctively’ made a difference if the money hit the employer’s account, encouraging more active ownership of it. Later at the conference, Jennifer Coupland (BIS) and Karen Woodward (SFA) provided updates on the Trailblazers and the funding pilot. Jennifer Coupland agreed with AELP that volume targets should not place the quality of the programme at risk. She added that the government’s aspiration was to see 40 to 60% of businesses engaged during the next Parliament and that the Trailblazers were going well. Karen Woodward confirmed that the 2014-15 pilot would require the £1 for £2 employer contribution but that for the pilot, the SFA funding would be paid to the lead provider. She also said that when a new standard was published on the NAS website, the website would also say what funding rate the standard would attract.
Described by delegates on their feedback forms as the best 1-day conference they had attended, the AELP autumn conference also had excellent sessions on Traineeships, English and maths, and LEPs plus an update from the Education and Training Foundation.
AELP chairman Martin Dunford took providers through an updated version of the AELP Manifesto and its 10 key points for action, available for download.
All registered delegates can download the conference speakers’ presentation slides by visiting the post-conference page.
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Driving the Economic Recovery
The AELP Autumn Conference is only seven months away from the next General Election and the focus on skills and employment policies is sharper than ever. This will be the first major conference since the Ministerial changes were announced.
Training provision has to be as much about meeting employers’ recruitment and skills needs in a fast recovering economy as about supporting further reductions in unemployment. The changes to AELP’s pre-election manifesto reflect this and the Autumn Conference will offer providers the opportunity to say whether our policy priorities are right.
The main political parties are talking a great deal about devolving responsibilities to the LEPs and combined local authorities, so we will explore how ready independent providers are for this new operational landscape.
Reforms to Traineeships and Apprenticeships remain high on the agenda and the conference will feature more lively debate on these. We will give providers an update on Trailblazer pilots and funding reforms. The government changes to English and maths are so significant for providers that the event will feature a dedicated session on meeting the challenge.
The AELP Autumn Conference always looks to support providers in tackling the immediate issues that affect their capacity to deliver excellent results for employers and learners. The 2014 event will be no different, so why not join us in Birmingham for another packed day which will offer solutions as well as anticipating the priorities of a new Parliament.
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