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Apprenticeships – How Local Government Is Making a Difference

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Apprenticeships – How Local Government Is Making a Difference apprenticeships – how local government is making a difference best practice examples from Labour councils in England THE SMITH INSTITUTE apprenticeships - how local government is making a difference best practice examples from Labour councils in England Published by The Smith Institute This report represents the views of the authors and not those of the Smith Institute. © The Smith Institute July 2013 THE SMITH INSTITUTE Contents Preface 3 Paul Hackett, Director of the Smith Institute Foreword 5 Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods MP, Shadow Communities and Local Government Minister Apprenticeships and the art of localism 8 Gordon Marsden MP, Shadow Minister for Further Education, Skills and Regional Growth Local government as the innovators 12 Gordon Marsden MP, Shadow Minister for Further Education, Skills and Regional Growth Best practice among Labour councils 16 - In-house council apprenticeship schemes 16 - Apprenticeships and public contracting 20 - Getting the message across 22 - Promotion in schools and colleges 23 - Engagement with business 24 - Apprenticeship hubs 26 List of contributing councils 28 2 THE SMITH INSTITUTE Preface Paul Hackett, Director of the Smith Institute An improved and expanded apprenticeship programme is at the heart of Labour’s vision for a better further education and skills system, and the public sector has a lead role to play. At the 2012 Labour conference Ed Miliband made a call to arms for all employers, public and private, to do more to support apprenticeships. He said that local government had an important role to play in supporting apprenticeships and promised that: the next Labour government will ensure that every private sector contract will only be awarded to a large company that trains the next generation with apprenticeships. Following his speech Ed Miliband established the One Nation Skills Taskforce, chaired by Professor Chris Husbands, director of the Institute of Education. That taskforce has been developing a new approach to increasing the number of high quality apprenticeships and work experience placements that young people desperately need. The Taskforce’s interim report (‘Talent Matters - why England needs a new approach to Skills, 2013’) stated that: There is a strong political consensus that apprenticeships play a critical role in the skills infrastructure and should be expanded. Various government reviews – most recently the Richards Review – have highlighted that the apprenticeship ‘brand’ is at risk from the low standard of some apprenticeships, particularly those created in recent years. The LGA endorses this view and in its evidence to the House of Commons BIS Select Committee inquiry on apprenticeships in 2012 commented that: Our principal concern with policy on apprentices is that it does not have a spatial dimension. It does not recognise that local economies perform differently and that skills needs are different from one functional economic area to another. In our view public subsidy could be targeted more effectively to generate training outcomes with higher economic returns. There is a strong value for money case for exploring whether decentralised approaches could deliver even better apprenticeship outcome. The BIS Select Committee concluded that local government could help boost apprenticeships and recommended that the Government encourages the employment of apprentices in its procurement contracts: 3 THE SMITH INSTITUTE While we concede that some flexibility is required (for example around the sector and nature of the work contracted), we recommend that Central Government, Local Government and other publicly funded bodies should seek to achieve at least one additional apprenticeship for every £1m awarded through public procurement as a benchmark. This discussion report echoes the sentiment expressed by Labour’s Taskforce, the BIS Select Committee and the LGA. The aim of the report is to highlight the contribution local government can make to promoting jobs and growth in local economies through high quality apprenticeship schemes. In particular, the report demonstrates how Labour councils in England are leading the way in delivering apprenticeship schemes, despite deep spending cuts and a weak and uncertain economic climate. 4 THE SMITH INSTITUTE Foreword Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods MP, Shadow Communities and Local Government Minister We have been very clear that a future Labour Government will have jobs for young people at the very heart of its agenda. We want to ensure that there are opportunities for young people with a diverse and wide range of skills. There is no better way of showing what a Labour government could achieve than the success that Labour councils are having. In providing apprenticeships and offering training opportunities for young people the 17 councils who have contributed to this report are showing the difference that local Labour leadership can make to people’s lives and their futures. This report shows that even as local government continues to suffer the brunt of disproportionate government cuts whilst bearing the burden of helping the vulnerable who have been hit hardest by the government’s economic failure, Labour councils are leading the way in prioritising jobs and opportunities for young people. In the current economic climate it is helpful to remember that apprenticeships can provide important and life changing training opportunities for people. Labour councils are at the forefront of re-invigorating the role of apprenticeships and building on the work of the previous Labour government in this area. This research also sets out how Labour values can shape public spending. The £62 billion pounds spent by local authorities each year gives them huge spending clout and means that their spending decisions have a huge impact on businesses, jobs and wider social value in their local area. This report is clear evidence of how this spending power can and is being harnessed by Labour local councils to create apprenticeships and opportunities for local people. Lewisham has set the pace by insisting in its procurement policy that contractors employ apprentices. Sheffield and Leeds are following suit using their procurement policies to ensure that all contracts over £100,000 create apprenticeships, work experience and employment opportunities, and others like Manchester are using their spending ability to encourage suppliers to take on apprentices - something that will become increasingly important as deep spending cuts force increased outsourcing. Many of these councils and others have gone ever further and are thinking continuously about what value can be won for their community from their contracts beyond jobs and training and are looking holistically about how their procurement spend can support 5 THE SMITH INSTITUTE and shape their local area. But too many others are failing to follow the lead set by Labour councils. In a survey of all local authorities in England a large majority told us that they saw EU procurement laws as a barrier to using their spending power to support their local area. Social value clauses can be essential in helping to secure apprenticeships, training and other local benefits with major contracts. Many councils have used procurement to win a living wage for the lowest paid workers, ensuring that they and their families have a decent standard of living. Others have used these clauses to secure transport for the elderly or youth engagement programmes. Further, while almost three quarters of Labour councils are using social value contracts there are a number of English councils who aren’t doing as much as they could. This needs to change. We need to work with these councils and key partners in the sector to ensure that councils are able to learn from the work that is being done elsewhere and have the support to use these lessons to the benefit of their communities. The examples for supporting apprenticeships in this report are just the beginning of what local and central government could achieve through procurement. Every local authority needs to think about how they can best wield their spending power to the advantage of their communities. It is up to us to work together and ensure that every council, whether Labour or not, knows exactly what is possible and is encouraged to follow the lead of these best practice examples. With people’s job prospects and living standards suffering so acutely under the Government’s austerity the role of councils in supporting their local economies has never been so critical. I hope that this report encourages more councils to start thinking proactively and strategically about how their money can go further and the benefits of projects can be spread more widely. The councils that have contributed to this paper have shown what is possible, now I hope that others are able to learn from their experiences. 6 THE SMITH INSTITUTE Apprenticeships and the art of localism Gordon Marsden MP, Shadow Minister for Further Education, Skills and Regional Growth 7 THE SMITH INSTITUTE Apprenticeships and the art of localism If today’s apprenticeships occupy centre-stage as a given good in the challenge of how to revive our economy and give skills and opportunities to young people, it is because the previous Labour government substantially helped to put them there. When Labour came to power in 1997, the apprenticeship programme was floundering. The Labour government resurrected that historic badge of excellence to make it fit for purpose in the 21st century. Labour launched National Apprenticeship Week (now significantly celebrated not just in Whitehall and Westminster - but in dozens of local colleges and by employers, councils across England) as a focus for recognition, and set up the National Apprenticeship Service to drive the project all round the country. When we left office the number of apprenticeships had quadrupled. Wisely the Coalition continued this emphasis, helped by the former Skills Minister John Hayes MP, who had an empathy for the human values and aspirations as well as the economic ones driving the apprenticeship programme. But now he is gone from that post, and in terms of numbers the Government’s grand project is faltering.
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