Nick Boles MP was reappointed as Minister of State for Skills by David Cameron just after the General Election.
He spoke at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) Conference about the Government’s “prioritisation of apprenticeships” and that the newly updated Government aim of three million apprenticeships in the next five years was “not worth achieving in number only but in quality”.
This was Mr Boles’ first public event and speech since the general election and he added he was “delighted that the Prime Minister appointed me again”.
“I felt like I did my own little apprenticeships in previous 10 months before the election” and added that by May 2015 he felt he had “a pretty good understanding” of the issues facing the skills sector.
He said he was keen to uncover what is good within technical apprenticeships but also what is not so good and to “ensure the programmes command widespread respect as they once did”.
He explained that the Budget and Spending Review will assess what priorities the Government should be investing in.
He also announced that there would be a productivity Budget published at the same time as the Budget itself and part of a wider productivity plan.
Productivity, he added “informs all of our plans” and he promised any new announcements would be affecting “steps and programmes that are going to most assist the productivity of British workers.
The Minister also praised the “astonishingly high and record high employment rate” which he said was comparable to France which he said has higher unemployment but also higher productivity than Britain.
It was there important that any changes his Department was able to make “everybody increases their productivity” and indeed to ensure that every apprenticeship and traineeship delivered maximum value for money for the taxpayer. He cited Level 3 apprenticeships which delivered £28 for every £1 where as other programmes delivered significantly less value for money.
He added that he was clear “programmes that are part-work and part-training have the most impact” and added that the Government would continue to invest in the apprenticeship programme to reflect this.
He was open to changes to traineeships and said it was important to look at what goes into a traineeship. He was clear that it must include English and Maths, but what else? The length of time for a traineeship is currently six months and this could be subject to change in the future.
Given Government Departmental cuts are expected to be announced in next week’s Budget he was clear that his area is not ring-fenced: “I’m not going to pretend that there won’t be areas we will have to cut back” because savings will be required in the whole budget.
He added that these were “difficult choices” over the next few months and raised questions about continuing “the range of qualifications offered to young people” and also to “the general FE College model” that has existed for so long.
Mr Boles concluded by saying there was a connection between these cuts and the rest of the Government’s programme: “The whole point of reforms to welfare and education is we want people to be better off because of their own efforts”.
He said it was important for welfare payments to support people who would never be able to contribute to the workforce due to their own abilities or their own health and promised further reforms to both the welfare system and to education.
“We need to help companies make investment in future of their workforce so everyone becomes more competitive and more productive”.
He concluded by saying that “we need to helping people make investments in their own future” and promised further announcements in the Budget and Productivity plan.