Employment and training providers have welcomed plans by the government to prevent sector organisations from cashing in on apprenticeship reforms by creating their own “approved” registers - and charging other organisations which want to be included.
The draft strategic guidance for the Institute for Apprenticeships, published today, warns of some “sector organisations” trying to “generate income from offering certain services which are not a necessary part of the system”. An example of this was sector organisations setting up their own “approved lists” of apprenticeship assessment organisations for their sectors, and asking organisations to pay in order to be on the lists.
This, the document adds, is the kind of behaviour the government had “made efforts to discourage”.
“These [actions] are largely around trying to generate income from offering certain services which are not a necessary part of the system, or trying to secure a particular role for themselves without fair competition,” the document states. Addressing the issue of sector bodies creating their own approved lists, it adds: “This is entirely unnecessary as the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) runs an approvals process for assessment organisations to be able to offer apprenticeship end-point assessments, and this is the only list these organisations need to be on.”
The document says that the government expects the Institute for Apprenticeships, to be launched in April, to discourage behaviour seeking to make a profit by delivering services that are not necessary and did not add value. It should also work to ensure the system is fair and consistent, it adds.
‘It is almost like developing a cartel’
Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), said the government’s consultation document on the Institute for Apprenticeships, published this morning, offered welcome recognition of this issue. “We’ve had numerous complaints from AELP members about being required to make multiple payments and, as the government says, no added value is generated,” he said. “Therefore the practice should cease immediately before the institute feels the need to take action.”
Mr Dawe said it was appropriate for sector organisations to advise members on the sort of things they should look for in a provider, but this should not lead to the creation of another register. He added: “It is a welcome recognition that there should be one register, and that is the SFA’s register. We have had rumblings from members about other registers and other fees they have been asked to pay sector by sector, and that doesn’t seem appropriate. This is picking up on something we have been hearing about. It is duplication and should not be something you should have to pay to get on. It is almost like developing a cartel.”
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