According to the first of a 2019 series of CBI apprenticeship reports — Getting Apprenticeships Right: Next Steps — the Government must give the Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA) the independence and ‘clout’ it needs to reform and regulate the English skills system.

The CBI (www.cbi.org.uk) says that to its credit, the Government has already taken significant steps to ‘evolve’ the apprenticeship system and is listening to businesses’ calls for continued reform in this area; a second wave of Government action is now needed to ensure that apprenticeships lead to high-skilled high-paid jobs that ‘fit firms’ needs, now and in the future.

Key report recommendations include: the Government making it clear that the IfA is the principal body for vocational skills in England, with the ‘clout’ to hold policy-makers and the skills sector to account; the IfA must take further steps to speed up the apprenticeship standards approval process, so that businesses can start using them; and with employer levy funds due to start expiring from April, the Government must urgently set up an appeals system that gives employers longer to spend their money, where apprenticeship standards remain in development.

The report also recommends that with the IfA assuming responsibility for T-levels and higher T-levels (T Levels are courses on a par with A levels, giving young people a post-16 choice between technical and academic education), it should set out a clear vision of how they will fit in the skills system, giving employers and the public greater confidence in them.

John Cope, CBI head of education and skills policy, said: “This business-backed blueprint needs to be taken seriously to make sure that the English skills system supports — rather than frustrates — employers offering a first step to people in their career. This must include giving the Institute for Apprenticeships the independence it needs to create a world-class skills system in England.”