What do you want to see from the treasury’s review of the Apprenticeship Levy?
I’d like to see the levy re-tuned so that if companies hired more 16 to 18 year olds, also hired more apprentices from significantly disadvantaged backgrounds and also if they hired degree apprentices, but with the skills that the country needs. So not just management degree ones but where we have skills deficits. So in other words if they are meeting the strategic skills needs of the nation.
Do you support the changes to the off-the-job training requirements for apprentices?
I definitely think that they need a significant time to make it a real apprenticeship rather than just working or going to a work place.
I definitely think they need some time in the college or training provider. So I am open minded whether that needs to be 20 hours but I definitely think it should be a certain proportion a week or a fixed amount of hours.
Higher and further education minister Michelle Donelan hinted during the committee session last week that financial incentives linked the T Level placements could return. Would you welcome this?
Yes absolutely. I think it’s essential to make it happen.
So basically every young person who wanted one, there would be an agreement so you would have a genuine offering from the DfE
And would you welcome the return of incentives with things like apprenticeships which have been very popular around here?
There are incentives already. There are various ones if you hired young people. Providers get something and so on. So there are incentives through the system but if they could be more and it was affordable then absolutely.
What are the next changes you would like to see for the apprenticeship system?
I would like to move to a stage that maybe we could use levy funding and repurpose it back to the DfE so that we can try and offer every young person who wanted one an apprentice guarantee.
So basically every young person who wanted one, there would be an agreement so you would have a genuine offering from the DfE: T Levels, A-Levels, or an apprenticeship. The money that is spent on the Apprenticeship Levy would be given back to the DfE which they could then fund apprenticeships.
And those apprenticeships would be at level three, parallel to T Levels and A-Levels?
From level three upwards. Possibly level two but I’m open minded other than that.