AoC responds to Government on apprenticeships

Commenting on AoC’s response to the Government’s proposals on the register of apprenticeship training providers and apprenticeship funding, Julian Gravatt, Assistant Chief Executive for the Association of Colleges, said: “The Government’s proposed changes to apprenticeships are trying to simplify a complicated system in a short space of time but funding reductions currently go too far and need more consideration. They unfairly hit 16 to18-year-olds and apprentices living in disadvantaged areas. We urge the Government to spend time working through and examining all the funding options, as well as the current beneficial arrangements with sub-contracted providers, to ensure they don’t adversely impact on the quality of training and provision at all levels and across all age groups. “A balanced approach must also be taken in assessing the ability of organisations to deliver high quality apprenticeships. Ofsted grades are a useful way to assess apprenticeship quality but are not yet totally reliable for this purpose.”