Laws abolishing the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) and transferring its powers to the education secretary will be debated in parliament later this month, with a second reading on 22 October.

Skills minister Jacqui Smith introduced the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (Transfer of Functions etc) Bill in the House of Lords on 9th October ahead of the creation of Skills England.

A briefing note from the Department for Education states the bill will transfer the functions of IfATE to the secretary of state, rather than the new skills body. To note is the how standards and assessment plans might be revised/formed in future without the involvement of Trailblazer Groups.

Once IfATE’s functions have been subsumed by the education secretary, the Department for Education will decide what to allocate to Skills England and what to keep for itself.

See the full FE Week article HERE.

See DfE’s useful policy summary HERE.

UVAC’s current views and insights:

– The language of Skills England’s creation is very much linked to a particular, party political, view – that our skills system is in a mess, with the role of Skills England bringing together a fractured skills landscape to develop a shared ambition to boost skills.

–  Skills England’s function to identify skills needs and ensure skills policy is aligned with the needs of the economy is an interesting idea underpinned by opinion that has fallen into the trap of assuming that the apprenticeship and skills systems has nothing to celebrate and that in apprenticeships especially, the last 10 years has resulted in a system of delivery at level 6 and level 7 that is ‘too expensive’, diverts funding from young people who need lower-level skills programmes, are re-packaged graduate schemes, abused by employers who re-badge existing staff as apprentices, represents a middle class land grab or, indeed, not in the spirit of apprenticeships at all but ‘fake apprenticeships’; that, in effect, they are not ‘proper’ apprenticeships. UVAC would rather that there was recognition for the excellence they bring in creating progression pathways into the skilled professions. It is disappointing that the narrative has returned to what apprenticeships have historically been.

– We know that Skills England  will work closely with the Migration Advisory Council to identify skills shortages and demand with the aim of training our resident population rather than always looking to net migration to fill high-skilled occupations, and presumably the Department for Work and Pensions which means they may collaboratively develop the skills shortage list based on – we assume – the industrial strategy. This is a sensible place to start, but there is no doubt it will pose a challenge to providers to respond to an ever changing playing field. It needs to be a long-term and consistent list, with flexibility built in – nothing is more disruptive than ever-moving goalposts.

– We have to be hopeful that the formation of Skills England and the inter-departmental brief it has, particularly the connection to the industrial strategy, will go some way to solve this ideological problem: that some parts of the apprenticeship system are not comfortable with the inevitable outcome of market choices which for some time now has seen employers recruit larger volumes of higher level apprenticeships and migrated upwards the demand for skills.

– Skills England will advise on the type of provision which falls under flexible training. Modular courses are expected to feature on the list, including modules at levels 4-5. So, if Skills England decides to become involved in the funding, expansion and planning of vocational sub-degrees funded through the HE system, the quango will be a big deal for HE and not just for apprenticeship delivery.

– In the name of developing a comprehensive post-16/18 skills system, Skills England may also want to have a say over the development of stand-alone modular courses in the regulated HE system whether Labour runs with the Lifelong Loan Entitlement or not.

– It is suggested the Skills England will be operational by 1 April 2025 and while they might decide what is fundable (with particular reference to level 7 provision)  it is not clear if it will get to decide what proportion of the levy can be spent on non-apprenticeship training.