ALP Conference - soundbites and points of interest

Submitted by Daniel on Wed, 13/05/2009 - 5:42pm

The ALP conference that just finished today had far too much content to even attempt full coverage. I've collated some highlights in this story, and a workshop on PRaP has its own story up.

Thoughts from the Chairman and CEO

The ALP Chairman and Chief Exec were notably more trenchant in criticising the government and civil service than in other conferences I've been to, possibly unsurprisingly given the payment and contract issues providers are facing with the LSC at the moment. The majority of the presentations by each was taken up by an impassioned argument that providers and the ALP had some impact but should be listened to more than they are. There was also an outline of the current ALP activities.

One amusing tidbit to emerge from the list of achievements was that Entry to Employment's Foundation Learning Tier was going to exclude job entry as a positive outcome, prior to the intervention of the ALP. The concept of paying training providers to stop their customers from getting jobs seems amusing.

On the Funding Crisis:

  • There is a real funding crisis going on out there
  • Ed Balls has given an assurance that all work carried out so far will be paid for
  • This message is still not being conveyed to you by front-line LSC staff

On the Conservative party:

  • They have not yet fully understood the importance of not simply giving Apprenticeship subsidies direct to employers
  • The Conservatives are so pro-college that you wouldn't believe it

David Russell (Director of Apprenticeships, DCSF)

  • Outlined potential funding issues in the medium term, with real terms increases of 4.6% per year in the current spending settlement giving way to a potential government-wide contraction of 2.3% / year from 2011 onwards owing to the need to repay government debt
  • Highlighted recession-related greater demands on government resources for services such as post-16 learning, free childcare, children's services, benefits, debt counselling, plus lower LA income
  • Pointed up the link between falls in Apprenticeship starts and the high proportion of Apprenticeships in most-affected sectors such automotive, construction and engineering
  • Highlighted the relative lack of Apprenticeships in the hospitality and catering field

Simon Waugh (CEO, National Apprenticeship Scheme)

  • Pointed to the 'extraordinary' improvements in apprenticeship take-up and success rates in the past few years
  • Described the current LSC funding issues with providers as a 'train crash', and pointed to the uncapped recruitment and consequent vast levels ('tsunami')of take-up last year as the primary cause of funding shortages for this year's lack of money
  • Can't guarantee that the projected figures for providers would improve, but would try to bring clarity and consistency to the figures being put out by LSC staff in the regions
  • Urged take-up of the Vacancy Matching System (VMS) for matching would-be apprentices to employers
  • Made it very clear that the Apprenticeship target groups would be 16-18 and public sector
  • Referred to his own experience in British Gas and to an IER study confirming the higher productivity of employees who go through a proper apprenticeship

Comments

Submitted by Daniel on Mon, 18/05/2009 - 3:33pm.

Update 18/5 - Another point I totally forgot to mention was that the recently announced £83m funding for colleges to provide vocational training to people unemployed for more than six months is definitely only going to colleges. However, there's rather more to this than originally met the eye.

Turns out that the funding is a one-off, and from 2010 colleges will be expected to provide training for 6-months plus claimants out of their mainstream funding. Essentially, the government is responding to the lack of jobs by creating ways for claimants to remain active while outside of work, and placing these alongside the FND payment-on-job-outcomes model.