Apprenticeships

APP 120

Written evidence submitted by the Food and Drink Federation

Introduction

1. The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) represents the UK’s food and drink manufacturing industry, the largest manufacturing sector in the country, directly employing some 400,000 people in companies of all sizes with a Gross Value Added of about £20 billion.

2. Food and drink manufacturing looks set to grow quickly as global demand for our products increases. To meet the future challenges of food security and climate change, we will need innovative technologies in engineering, IT and life sciences. The ability to attract talent and upskill our existing workforce will be critical to this.

3. FDF is therefore pledging to double the number of apprenticeships available in the food and drink manufacturing sector in England and Scotland by the end of 2012. We are calling on food and drink manufacturers to sign up to our pledge and contribute in anyway they can which will collectively help us reach our goal. However we recognise that there are existing barriers to implementing apprenticeships or expanding existing programmes. It is on the basis that we welcome this opportunity to raise these issues for the Select Committee to consider as part of its inquiry.

Answers to specific questions

How successful has the National Apprenticeship Service been since it was created in April 2009?

4. The National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) has been successful in raising awareness and working with employers, thus driving up the demand for apprenticeships. NAS is currently working with FDF to help deliver its Apprenticeship Pledge by raising awareness through joint events for food and drink manufacturers about the business benefits of apprenticeships and has committed to joint visits with the National Skills Academy for food and drink to large manufacturers wishing to start or expand Apprenticeship Programmes.

5. FDF fully supports national leads for industry sectors within NAS as it encourages working in partnership with trade associations and Sector Skills Councils (SSCs). In particular, we have found the national lead on food and drink manufacturing valuable. It is critical that strategic and operational arrangements allow the NAS to work closely with SSCs, National Skills Academies and trade associations which would avoid duplication of effort and enable NAS to focus their resource.

6. While NAS has been very responsive and supportive, we are concerned over the implications of focusing on a volume target from the perspective of SMEs. It appears that the focus of NAS is firmly on large organisations having 250 employees or above. However we believe that a government funded organisation should provide a support service to all organisations and in particular address areas of market failure. We believe NAS should be tasked with raising participation with SMEs as a first priority rather than with volumes of apprenticeships from large companies.

Is the extra funding promised by the Coalition Government necessary for apprenticeships? How can this funding best be spent?

7. We feel that greater (or re-allocated) funding would be useful to support smaller businesses to create new jobs. We would redeploy existing NAS funds and resources to give priority to engaging with small businesses.

8. In addition, from the perspective of food businesses which have an older profile of workers, we would like to see greater support being given to invest in older (adult) apprentices. This approach has been hugely successful and led to a take up of apprenticeships in Scotland proportionally greater than anywhere else in the UK.

Are apprenticeships of a high enough quality to benefit apprentices and their employers? Should there be more Level 3 apprenticeships?

9. FDF considers there are two issues in terms of quality – actual Apprenticeship Frameworks and the delivery of them. On Apprenticeship Frameworks, we are concerned that employers’ requirement for flexibility will be compromised following recent announcements about ‘minimum duration’ of apprenticeships to be set at 12 months. New Apprenticeship Frameworks such as Improve’s Improve Proficiency Apprenticeship (IPA) are designed to put the learner at the heart of learning according to their specific needs and the specific detail of their job role – not to impose a rigid timescale on delivery. Secondly Apprenticeships suffer from real issues in some sectors around the capability and capacity of delivery. There are particularly issues around visibility of providers and the breadth of delivery. We therefore believe there is a real role for National Skills Academies to be the driver of improved specialist provision for their sectors.

10. Businesses are still faced with high levels of bureaucracy with the need to provide data to Ofsted, the Skills Funding Agency and awarding bodies leading to large amounts of duplication, for example, employers have to provide names of learners nine times. Moreover employers are subject to overlapping audits from multiple organisations consuming large amounts of staff time.

11. Level 3 and 4 Apprenticeships are available in food and drink manufacturing as part of Improve’s Food Manufacturing Excellence qualifications. However food and drink employers may prefer to employ graduates rather than provide apprenticeships at higher levels which can be more expensive. We need to encourage greater uptake of these advanced and higher level Apprenticeships. FDF also considers that where these programmes are equal to degree courses then they should be labelled as such to break down the perceived barriers between academic and vocational routes.

Apprenticeship bonuses – how should they function? Will they encourage the involvement of more small and medium sized businesses to take on apprentices? If not what will?

12. In principle, FDF supports bonuses to small companies for taking on young apprentices. But we must encourage smaller businesses to take on apprentices not only through financial incentives but by working together and to maximise their involvement and impact, locally, occupationally and to the needs of the industry. To assist in achieving real engagement with SMEs they need organisations to actively take the information and opportunity to them as they are not generally well informed and thus the support of NAS and the involvement of National Skills Academies and SSCs would be of tangible value and use for them.

Is the current funding arrangement for training of apprentices of 100% for 16-18 year olds and 50% for 19-24 year olds appropriate?

13. We understand the importance of prioritising apprenticeships for under 18s however this does not meet the needs of the food and drink manufacturing industry where less than 2% of the industry workforce are in this group. Greater focus on the 18+ age bracket would support development and indeed recruitment as the complex regulations and perceived health and safety issues around working in food manufacturing make it difficult to employ 16-18 year olds.

14. Recent years have seen significant reorganisations to the funding system and changes in eligibility criteria. Employers still face complex funding rules such as having to draw down funding monthly which involves large amounts of data transfer.

10 February 2012