Apprenticeships and Technical Education

As part of National Apprenticeship Week, the Secretary of State Bridget Phillipson has announced today new English and maths requirements to boost skills and support employers.   

Employers will now be able to decide whether adult learners, over the age of 19 when they start an apprenticeships course, will need to complete a level 2 English and Maths (GCSE) qualification.  This a significant win for the FDF and its members. According to the Department for Education (DfE), this could allow up to 10,000 more employees to take up an apprenticeship each year. 

The FDF has been calling for these changes to functional skills requirements for some time to increase participation in Apprenticeships, particularly for older, more experienced workers, and allow apprentices to focus on the core skills relevant to their role. Apprentices will still be assessed on core English and maths skills relevant to their occupation.

These changes will come into effect immediately and we’ve received confirmation from DfE (via Skills England) that it will apply to both new and existing learners, but this will be subject to certain eligibility criteria. We understand that the new apprenticeship funding rules will detail further guidelines on eligibility and application once published. DfE colleagues are also planning to produce a help tool alongside this.

Other key points to note:

• The reduction of the minimum duration of an apprenticeship, from 12 months to 8 months. Pending legislative measures, these shorter apprenticeships could be introduced as early as August 2025.
• Confirmation of the new Skills England team:
• Phil Smith, former chair and CEO of Cisco, will chair Skills England with Sir David Bell as Vice Chair, currently Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of the University of Sunderland.
• Sarah Maclean and Tessa Griffiths will be taking up the role of Chief Executive Officer in Skills England.  We know Tessa Griffiths from her previous DfE role.

For more information, please contact caroline.keohane@fdf.org.uk.  We will shortly be confirming the next meeting of FDF’s Employment and Skills Forum to discuss next steps on Skills England’s reforms and the Growth and Skills Levy.

Last week FDF’s Skills and Innovation team travelled up to Scotland to meet with our FDF Scotland colleagues and some key stakeholders over three days.  The visit started with a lively conversation with Justin Thomas, Programme Manager from Developing the Young Workforce (DYW).  DYW is doing wonderful work to help attract and prepare young people for the world and work and we will be looking at opportunities to collaborate on their work in both Scotland and England.

Our second day was focused at the Royal Highland Show, where amid enjoying the best of Scottish food and drink, we met with Jennifer McInroy from Scotland Food and Drink (SFD) and discussed the shared challenges and where we could take learnings from the work happening in Scotland.  Later that afternoon we met with Howell Davies from Interface and delved into the world of innovation and automation for a few hours. Howell and Interface are key partners in the FDF Innovation Gateway, that opens up the innovation support offered across the UK through the Catapult Network, to food and drink businesses. Our day finished with a little social in the Tesco tent where we caught up with some of our members, as well as David Thomson and Tim Rycroft (Director General, AHDB).

Our final day was no less eventful with an early morning meeting with Gerry McBride from Skills Development Scotland (SDS).  Gerry gave us a comprehensive overview of the Scottish skills system and highlighted the differences between our apprenticeship systems.  Finally we headed out to the National Manufacturing Institute of Scotland (NMIS) where we saw first-hand some of their fantastic work.  We had a long conversation with their team, including Alistair Williams (formerly of Macsween of Edinbugh) and Chief Commercial Office Lyne O’Hare, discussing how we can build on their expertise to help businesses increased their automation and mitigate some of the problems coming from the current labour crisis.

It was a busy and fun three days and we have returned to London with a greater appreciation of the Scottish food and drink industry and many ideas for future collaborations!  More details will be coming soon.

In partnership with the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink (NSAFD), FDF have created a survey to establish the current state of apprenticeships in the food and drink industry. Responses to this survey will form a vital part of the FDF and NSAFD’s collaborative work on skills and will strengthen the lobbying position we bring to government.
 
The survey – which should take no more than 15 minutes – can be completed here and the deadline for responses is Friday 10 June 2022. 
  
We greatly appreciate you taking the time to complete this survey. If you have any questions please email A.Crooks@nsafd.co.uk or Griffin.Shiel@fdf.org.uk

The Secretary of State for Education, The Rt Hon Nadhim Zahawi, launched the first Schools White Paper in six years entitled Opportunity for All: Strong schools with great teachers for your child.

Opportunity for All sets out proposals for the UK education system to support the UK Government’s Levelling Up ambitions through improvement to teaching, careers advice and a Parent Pledge. The Parent Pledge is a guarantee that should any child, in any school, fall behind in English or maths, they will receive additional support that will enable them to reach their potential.

Two key indicators of success have been announced to support the Government’s ambition:

• 90% of primary school children to achieve the expected standard in Key Stage 2 reading, writing and maths by 2030 (In 2019, only 65% of children attained this standard)
• national average GCSE grade in both English language and maths to increase from 4.5 in 2019 to 5 by 2030.

The FDF welcomes this commitment to ensuring all children get the support they need, particularly for maths and English given the issues caused by the competency requirements for these two subjects in the context of apprenticeships and upskilling.

The Government will launch a new careers programme for primary schools in areas of disadvantage and are extending the legal requirement to provide independent careers guidance to all secondary school children. This includes increasing the opportunities for them to meet providers of apprenticeships and technical education.

There will also be improved professional development for teachers and leaders on careers education, including strengthening understanding of apprenticeships and technical routes.

These are valuable commitments from the government which recognise the importance of careers guidance at a young age. If effectively implemented, these programmes can have a significant impact on careers awareness among secondary students of all ages. The FDF, along with the National Manufacturing Skills Taskforce will work with careers advisors and teachers to ensure that the vast array of exciting careers available at every level in the food and drink sector are included in the guidance given to students across the country.

Also included in the Schools White Paper are commitments to the following:

• launch a new careers programme for primary schools in disadvantaged areas
• provide more opportunities for students to meet providers of apprenticeships and technical education.
• Improve professional development for teachers and leaders on careers education, including improving their understanding of apprenticeships and technical routes

The FDF sees working with schools and learning providers as a key part of our ambition to develop a sustainable skills pipeline within our industry to maintain a growing workforce. We have launched a Careers Passport with the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink, developed our own Skills Toolkit, and are in continuous conversation with government stakeholders across multiple departments on key issues such as the Apprenticeship Levy and T Levels. Issues relating to skills and education are discussed in our Employment Skills Forum. For information on the forum contact Griffin.Shiel@fdf.org.uk