Memorandum submitted by the Association
of Colleges in partnership with the British Association of Construction
Heads
THE ASSOCIATION
OF COLLEGES
AoC (Association of Colleges) is the representative
body for colleges of further education, including general FE colleges,
sixth form colleges and specialist colleges in England, Wales
and Northern Ireland. AoC was established in 1996 by the colleges
themselves to provide a voice for further education at national
and regional levels. Some 98% of the 425 general FE colleges,
sixth form colleges and specialist colleges in the three countries
are in membership.
THE BRITISH
ASSOCIATION OF
CONSTRUCTION HEADS
The British Association of Construction Heads
represents heads of construction departments in colleges and private
training providers.
FURTHER EDUCATION
COLLEGES
Further education colleges have a major role
in the existing efforts to equipping people of all ages with the
skills they need for working life. The central role of colleges
in education and training is evident from the following facts.
Colleges:
— enrol the largest numbers of
16-18 year olds in full-time education and account for more than
40% of entrants to higher education;
— are the main providers of work-related
learning for all ages. They deliver part-time vocational education
to 15% of 14-16 year olds and support 48% of the learners who
gain vocational qualifications each year (see chart).
— are the main option for any
adult wishing to learn part-time. Colleges are the main providers
of foundation degrees, learndirect, basic skills, technical skills
at level 2 and 3 and general adult education.
WHERE PEOPLE GAIN VOCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
GENERAL COMMENTS
1. The UK construction industry is a major
economic sector, accounting for 8% of gross domestic product and
employing two million people.
2. This evidence from the AoC and BACH contributes
to three elements of the Select Committee's inquiry:
— the availability of, and investment,
in skills;
— the delivery of the Government's
capital programme; and
— encouraging sustainability.
AVAILABILITY OF,
AND INVESTMENT
IN, SKILLS
3. The UK college sector has a major role
in construction training. There are 108,000 individuals on college
construction courses and another 60,000 on work-based apprenticeships.
150 colleges offer construction training.
College of North West London
The establishment of the Building One Stop Shop
(BOSS) was one of the College of North West London's (CNWL) major
successes in developing its construction provision. The BOSS,
established in partnership with Brent Council, plays a dual role—employers
identify the skills they require and the BOSS addresses those
needs by sourcing skilled, qualified people through the local
community. As a result, over 700 local people, including many
women, now have long-term, sustainable, skilled employment in
construction and engineering. Some of these worked on the new
Wembley Stadium and a large number on the White City Development.
Following this success six more BOSS centres were established
across London in 2006, each led by a local college which is a
construction Centre of Vocational Excellence. This expansion will
enable more colleges to recruit local people into education and
training for the construction and engineering skills needed for
the Olympic Games in 2012. About 85% of all BOSS outcomes involve
people from ethnic minority backgrounds. This is particularly
impressive because the construction industry has on 4% of its
workforce from an ethnic minority.
4. Construction training is a challenging
task for colleges because of the nature of the industry and the
structure of employment. There are several reasons for this:
— the industry is fragmented into
more than 200,000 companies, 90% of whom employ fewer than 10
people. 60% of skilled construction workers are self-employed;
— construction work is project-based
which makes it difficult for companies to predict their workload
or guarantee training places;
— the industry is cyclical. Turnover
and employment has grown consistently since the mid-1990s but
this followed a prolonged recession. A downturn in the property
market, significant increase in interest rates or reduction in
Government capital expenditure in the future could change the
demand for employees;
— there is a culture of employing
family and friends with recruitment by word of mouth rather than
through formal qualifications. This affects incentives to complete
training;
— health and safety considerations
mean that initial training has to be off-the-job unlike some other
sectors where new recruits can start work almost immediately;
— although the industry, uniquely,
retains a training levy system, there are few regulatory controls
on construction occupations. This flexibility has made it easy
for the construction industry to fill vacancies with migrant workers
but, again, affects incentives to train; and
— the vast majority of the workforce
is male which makes it difficult to attract women and which can
affect its attractiveness to young men.
5. Looking specifically at education and
training in construction, there are three particular problems:
— Training supply is insufficient
to meet demand. According to the Adult Learning Inspectorate
in 2005, the construction industry in England needed to recruit
and train 88,000 entrants each year up to 2010, spread across
a variety of trades. An additional 30,000 people a year are needed
in the next few years to meet Olympic requirements. The number
of apprentices starting training is about 20,000 a year compared
to 100,000 apprentices a year in the 1970s.
— Success rates are lower than
in other sectors. This compounds the problem of low throughput
of skilled people to the industry. The gaps are filled with migrant
workers, with inadequately trained individuals and with do-it-yourself.
OFSTED and Adult Learning Inspectorate inspections show that teaching
and learning is good or better in most colleges. There are other
explanations for the lower success rates: Construction qualifications
and the construction apprenticeship framework are more complicated
than in other sectors. Many small or specialised contractors struggle
to meet the stringent work-based evidence requirements in NVQs
at all levels.
— The existing workforce is
insufficiently skilled. The characteristics of the construction
industry are long-standing. Approximately 55% of people who work
in the industry are not qualified to the standard of an NVQ at
level 2, or equivalent. There is an urgent need to develop and
fund a bite-sized unit-based framework to support the industry.
6. The college sector is not complacent
in face of these challenges. Colleges have the major role in providing
initial training for school leavers and for those retraining for
construction work. Colleges work in partnership with employers
and ConstructionSkills (the construction sector skills council,
formerly known as the Construction Industry Training Board) to
train apprentices. Colleges provide a range of courses to upskill
the existing workforce. There are a number of specific actions
that colleges have taken to address the skills requirements of
the UK construction industry:
— Colleges have expanded the number
of construction training places that they offer and have developed
new facilities to meet demand. According to the Adult Learning
Inspectorate, "Some colleges have particularly impressive
accommodation for practical training, which closely resembles
work environments. Such workshops provide controlled and safe
conditions in which learners can practise aspects of their crafts
and increase their skills".
Cambridge Regional College
The SmartLIFE centre at the College's Science
Park campus was tansformed into a true to life building site for
a pilot scheme to allow students to work in a realistic and modern
construction environment. The site was supervised by a professional
site manager and students were made aware of the real construction
site conditions as they completed their individual tasks and became
familiar with all relevant health and safety site regulations.
This was the first time the different construction disciplines
will be working alongside each other on a true to life building
site with a full size jib crane and industry standard tools and
equipment which together provided the realism necessary for high
quality provision in modern methods of construction and sustainable
development. This pilot scheme formed an integral part of students'
construction courses.
SmartLIFE is an innovative transnational project.
In collaboration with the County Council, the College is delivering
training in modern methods of construction and providing new demonstation
housing sites to compare the advantages of wood, steel and concrete
methods compared to traditional build. It won the European "Starfish
Award" for the best innovative partnership project in its
field last year. The College will be starting its first full-time
course in Modern Methods of Construction and Sustainable Development
in September 2007.
The College is also one of three which together
form the Cambridgeshire Centre of Vocational Excellence (CoVE)
in construction the others being Peterborough Regional College
and Isle College. The CoVE has the following focus: "Together
with Construction Industry Partners, we will create a skilled
workforce capable of meeting current and future industry needs
across Cambridgeshire".
— Staff have been recruited to
handle the growing numbers of students, generally directly from
industry. Colleges have made good use of the Government's golden
hello scheme in this regard.
— Colleges have worked with the
Learning and Skills Council to develop 54 Centres of Vocational
Excellence (CoVE).
— Colleges have taken action to
improve quality and performance. Success rates in construction
courses have risen from 57% in 2003-04 to 68% in 2005-06.
— Colleges have worked with ConstructionSkills
to raise the status of the industry, to deliver off-the-job training
for the ConstructionSkills' apprenticeships and to qualify the
workforce through the On-Site Assessment and Training programme.
— Colleges are involved in almost
all the partnerships that will be offering the construction specialised
diploma in 2008-09.
— Colleges have developed foundation
degrees to meet the demand for higher-level skills.
Leeds College of Building
Leeds College of Building has offered higher
education provision for over 10 years which commenced with Higher
National Certificates in Building Services Engineering and a specialist
Fire Degree with Leeds Metropolitan University. In addition, the
College runs more prescribed HE provision such as the Chartered
Institute of Building Site Supervisor/Management courses and Teacher
Training. Two years ago the College developed new Foundation Degrees
in partnership with Leeds Metropolitan University including in
Building Services, Construction Project Management and constructions
Operations Management. These are being phased in to meet employer
demand as they were jointly developed with employer input. NG
Bailey, Shepherd Engineering Services and SMEs are amongst the
employers specifically involved in the provision of foundation
degrees. Lains, Maitland Construction and Southdale Homes are
involved in general HE provision. The College currently has 9,700
enrolments across five sites, works nationally through on-site
assessment and training arrangements and is the sector lead for
construction in the West Yorkshire Lifelong Learning Network.
7. There are a number of threats to these
college successes:
— College expansion has not been
fast enough to meet demand. According to the Adult Learning Inspectorate,
waiting lists can be attributed to "lack of workshop capacity
in colleges, difficulties in recruiting skilled craft teachers
and the scarcity of employers prepared to provide work placements".
— Although apprenticeship completion
rates have improved, the current apprenticeship framework is excessively
complicated and includes external key skills tests which are rarely
valued by either employers or trainees.
— Although designed with the help
of employers, the new specialised diploma contains few practical
elements and could fail to engage many young people in schools.
— The Learning and Skills Council
is cutting funding for adult further education and is shifting
spending towards its priorities (basic skills, level 2 qualifications).
This is forcing some colleges to close construction courses at
foundation level, although they work well as preparatory courses
for those who leave school with few qualifications.
— The LSC is increasing spending
on its Train to Gain scheme, which is a programme which rewards
assessment more than training.
— Government policy towards publicly-funded
apprenticeships assumes that employers will pay a greater share
of costs for those over 19. Colleges have found great reluctance
from employers to pay more, particularly given the role of the
Construction Skills levy.
— The likelihood that a construction
bust will follow the current boom is likely to affect the sustainability
of current provision, particularly as government funding will
increasingly follow the learner. This could make it difficult
for colleges to sustain current progress.
DELIVERY OF
THE GOVERNMENT
CAPITAL PROGRAMME
8. The college sector provides an interesting
case study of a successful public sector capital programme. Colleges
have built new facilities on time and within budget and have taken
the opportunity to transform their operations.
9. Colleges run their courses from more
than 5,000 buildings and learning centres across England; their
main buildings with large industry-standard facilities are major
community assets. Smaller learning centres in remote locations
are often one of the few accessible public services for over-16
learners. The college estate is a genuine asset to the nation.
Over the years, the Government has been able to launch initiatives
like Skills for Life and the 14-19 curriculum reforms confident
in the existence of facilities across the country which could
support expansion.
10. Over the last 13 years, colleges have
transformed their buildings to make them fit for the twenty-first
century. When colleges left local authority control in 1993, the
state of their buildings was far from adequate. A national survey
commissioned by the Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) from
Hunter and Partners reported that a significant part of the college
estate was unsuitable, that 20% of college buildings were unsafe
and that available space was poorly used. The report costed necessary
improvements at £800 million. The FEFC kick-started a capital
programme that has been carried forward by college governors and
managers in the years that followed. The achievements of this
programme have been:
— the modernisation or renewal
of more than 60% of college buildings, which started in the early
years with the correction of health and safety issues;
— a 15% reduction in the space
used by colleges at a time when full-time student numbers have
increased;
— work to make college buildings
accessible to those with disabilities;
— the wholesale redevelopment
of many colleges, in some cases involving landmark buildings contributing
to local regeneration. Good examples of this can be found in Southend
(South East Essex College), Birmingham Eastside (Matthew Boulton
College) and Manchester; and
— the use of the Centre of Vocational
Excellence programme to renew and create work-related teaching
facilities in colleges. Grimsby. Barnfield, Cambridge Colleges,
Leeds College of Building and College of North West London are
four examples of colleges who have used the CoVE initiative to
upgrade their facilities and offer to employers.
11. College capital expenditure has been
funded from a variety of sources. Government grants from the Learning
and Skills Council have risen to more than £200 million a
year. The LSC has paid an average grant of 35% towards project
costs but the exact amount varies depending on other sources of
finance. Colleges use borrowing, land sales and cash generated
from their operations to fund the rest. Total capital expenditure
doubled between 2001 and 2005 to more than £800 million.
Borrowing plays a growing role in funding projects—a sign
of the financial track record of colleges but also a source of
greater risk. Perhaps significantly, the relatively small size
of college rebuilding projects means that very few projects have
involved public-private partnerships. Only one college in England
has been rebuilt under a Private Finance Initiative contract.
Many more involve partnerships and transactions with developers
but the programme as a whole has been successfully managed by
relatively small clients (the college) under the scrutiny of a
national funding body (the LSC).
12. CHART: College capital expenditure and
LSC capital grants (£ millions)
Figures up to 2005-06 are taken from consolidated
college accounts
13. The transformation of the college estate
contributed to a rise in participation, attendance, achievement
and standards. Government funded research has proved a link between
capital investment and higher success rates for individual colleges.
More generally, the major college capital investment programme
in the first half of the decade has coincided with a transformation
in college performance. Success rates and inspection judgements
have risen; high satisfaction levels have been maintained.
14. The FE capital programme has also had
financial successes. Although it is difficult to be precise about
the figures, there is clear evidence that colleges have reduced
running costs by moving to new buildings. Colleges have financed
projects from their own resources and from loans because of the
confidence that new buildings will be cheaper to run and will
generate more income. The LSC has been rigorous in requiring colleges
to limit building costs to £1,000 per square metre and running
costs to £30 per square metre. Projects have only been approved
if they meet stringent investment appraisals.
ENCOURAGING SUSTAINABILITY
15. The college sector has a number of good
examples of sustainable development in its capital programme.
Walford and North Shropshire College uses biomass, solar power,
geothermal sources and methane from its cattle herd to supply
energy to its new £2.5 million Harris Centre. Somerset College
of Arts and Technology's Genesis centre displays a number of sustainable
construction techniques, which are being used to facilitate students'
learning. Both colleges use their new buildings to showcase new
technologies and facilitate research projects to students and
businesses, for example in foundation degree courses. Bournemouth
and Poole College is planning to take the same approach on a larger
scale in the £60 million building that it is planning.
16. These are positive examples but several
report that tight building cost limits and training space norms
imposed by the LSC in the recent past required it to eliminate
environmentally desirable features, for example solar panels and
rainwater recycling. Up to now, the LSC approval process has focused
on efficient, cost effective, construction. This has limited the
scope for innovative design, though this is something that the
LSC is seeking to change through the addition of 10% to its cost
limits.
17. More generally, pressures placed on
colleges to deliver financially-viable projects in an uncertain
political and funding environment, inevitably pushes them to place
a greater weight on short-term considerations. Although buildings
are expected to last for 30-50 years, college governors and managers
know that success or failure will be judged over a much shorter
period—perhaps five years.
FURTHER INFORMATION
18. AoC would be pleased to arrange for
the Committee to visit construction facilities at a College featured
in this evidence or an alternative.
May 2007
|
