More than 500 providers have been added to the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) and will now be able to deliver apprenticeship training to levy-paying employers.
New providers on the register include 33 FE colleges, 18 councils, 13 hospitals and NHS trusts, and large employers such as McDonald’s, Balfour Beatty and Eddie Stobart.
The register also includes WhiteHat, a provider owned by entrepreneur Euan Blair, as well as Deloitte and the British Transport Police.
Birmingham ‘back in business’
Meanwhile, four of the 13 Birmingham colleges originally left off the register - Birmingham Metropolitan College, City College Coventry, Henley College Coventry and Solihull College and University Centre - are now included. In March, Siôn Simon, MEP for the West Midlands, launched a “fightback” against the omission of the colleges, claiming that the decision would “all but end technical education for young people in the West Midlands”.
According to the Association of Colleges (AoC), 210 FE and specialist colleges were originally accepted on to the RoATP in March. The RoATP now includes 2,226 providers which have been approved to deliver apprenticeships.
Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “It looks like a good outcome. A couple of non-acceptances have caused some bemusement, and AELP will offer to work with any member providers to make sure they get on the register next time.”
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