Party conferences often feel like they are more about pageantry than policy. There are always plenty of headlines, but often the most significant announcements can be lost in the noise.
So while hecklers, donations, and dodgy DJ sets may have dominated the newspaper headlines during the Labour Party conference, it is some of the more granular detail which merits a closer look.
The new government’s skills strategy and approach to apprenticeships is going to have a major impact on the nation’s economy and future workforce, and at the conference we heard the best indication yet of what its priorities will be.
Labour used the Prime Minister’s speech to highlight the steps it’s planning to take to reform the apprenticeship levy. The headlines are that it will curtail access to funding for some level 7 apprenticeships – which mostly provide training and qualifications to those already embarked on their career – and launch a new “foundation apprenticeship” aimed at school leavers.
A key line from the PM’s speech was that this will “rebalance funding in our training system back to young people and align that with what businesses really need.” Reading this, it’s clear that this represents a shift in energy from adult education toward targeting apprenticeships at a certain demographic of young people.
But despite what the PM says, is this really what businesses want or need? Or is it a false dichotomy, which we have seen all too often in the debate around skills?
Defending level 7
At Hallam, we’re are home to the National Centre of Excellence for Degree Apprenticeships and are one of the largest providers of degree apprenticeships in the country – including level 7 courses. In our experience, apprenticeships work best when they work for everyone – whatever their age, and at every stage of their career.
The economic arguments for level 7 apprenticeships are simple ones. They train people in desperately needed skills, for key industries. Businesses are crying out for more senior leaders with advanced skills, and level 7 standards are a way to provide that in an ever-changing economy. The Digital Technology Solutions Specialist course, to give just one example, focuses on advanced software and data analytics. This is the kind of knowledge that leaders of businesses and public services increasingly need, but few have. Training them is going to be incredibly important if the new government wants to hit its targets for economic growth.
Beyond that, restrictions would be especially punitive for public services, an area of apparent priority from every speech at the conference. The NHS and local authorities in particular need more people with these advanced skillsets – and more than 70 per cent of our Senior Leader apprentices work in public services.
It isn’t just businesses who benefit from level 7 opportunities either. They are incredibly effective at helping people from underrepresented backgrounds get on in their careers. For instance, at Hallam most level 7 apprentices are female (65 per cent) – and there are a higher proportion of minority ethnic groups and disabled students on these programmes than other types of provision.
It’s a common misconception and a false narrative that level 7 apprentices are “already well paid, well qualified employees.” These are NHS workers, civil servants and local authority employees. A high number of Hallam’s level 7 apprentices have prior attainment at or below level 4, and very often come from the areas of highest deprivation.
I will always argue that an all age, all level system has to be prioritised and protected. Skills are for life, and we are missing out on so much potential already. A report from Sheffield Hallam researchers published last week by UVAC, as part of its 25-year anniversary celebrations, found that in 2020–21 nearly 3.3m adults were engaged in some form of sub-degree learning. That figure is almost half what it was ten years ago, suggesting that a full three million adults are missing out on opportunities currently – a pandemic hangover which we are yet to recover from. Now is not the time to row back from adult apprenticeships.
Reform not revolution
A welcome detail from the PM’s announcement is that it seems level 7 standards will not be axed in their entirety. Funding will be restricted or reallocated, but certain level 7 courses will continue to fall under the remit of the levy.
Ultimately, it will be down to the government’s new skills arm, Skills England, to decide on the detail, but – as a provider – we would urge them to take a long-term and pragmatic view as they set out exactly which level 7 courses are going to see funding restricted.
We know that they will work closely with the Migration Advisory Committee to identify skills shortages and demand, 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.
The other sensible place to start would be the formation of an employer-led system, where industry is able to identify the occupations that need developing and clarify the knowledge, skills and behaviours that are critical to them. This would help providers respond to their needs. But of course, we have already tried that and it seems parts of the system are not comfortable with the inevitable outcome of market forces.
I’m 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 problem, but time will tell.
It is worth mentioning the final elephant in the room before we embark on developing what could be a very complex system to overcome a perceived market deficit. The two most popular level 7 courses – Senior Leader and Accountancy – account for 70 per cent of the entire level 7 apprenticeship market.
Therefore, whatever happens to these two standards will have a significant impact on the market and its viability (for both provider and government). We need to acknowledge this, and have an honest and open debate about what is driving the political narrative, rather than creating yet more uncertainty which restricts providers’ ability to invest in and develop these programmes.
Answering these questions is going to be an incredibly important part of the conversation about how the new government meets the skills needs of our economy.
