Industrial Training Levy (Construction Industry Training Board) Order 2018
Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Lord Jones
Viscount Younger of Leckie
The noble Baroness makes a very good point: 2% is far too low for those at the front end. The Government are very much aware of that. The CITB has taken practical steps by developing a cross-industry fairness, inclusion and respect programme, which will invest in activities to make the sector a more attractive place to work in for people of all backgrounds, particularly women.
There is more. The CITB careers hub, Go Construct, provides online guidance and case studies for prospective employees and employers on a range of diversity topics, including gender and race. In addition, the wage gap between women and men is 17% and people with disabilities earn 9.9% less, so there are suggestions that women fail to be promoted once given additional responsibilities. This is another linked area that we are looking at and the CITB is also aware of it. Those points are important.
The noble Baroness, Lady Garden, mentioned the EU and Brexit, asking whether our leaving the EU will reduce skills and our capacity in the sector further. We see this in a different light from her—she will probably not be surprised by what I am about to say—because we see it as an opportunity for industry to invest in its workforce and tackle the long-standing issues around training and productivity. We expect industry, working with government, to offer rewarding careers to a new generation of British construction workers. In parallel, local areas have the opportunity to use housebuilding to create skilled jobs and drive growth. There is more because, as the noble Baroness will know, negotiations are continuing and we will have to wait for their outcome to know what the construction sector will consist of after Brexit.
The noble Lord, Lord Jones, asked about the amount of levy paid by an SME and what is paid by larger housebuilders; that is two questions, actually. As he alluded to, I cannot give a specific example. Perhaps I can reassure him to this extent: as I mentioned, very small employers with a wage bill of less than £80,000 are entirely exempt from the levy, slightly larger firms—those with a wage bill of £80,000 to £400,000—pay a 50% reduced rate, and SMEs receive 60% of all CITB grants in return. I hope there is some reassurance there —without giving specific examples—that housebuilding firms fall into that as well.
Lord Jones
I am grateful. Would the Minister’s officials be able to give him such details, given the importance of the levy?
Viscount Younger of Leckie
Yes. I will write to the noble Lord and give one, if not two, examples. We can perhaps look at Hansard and follow up on that.
Viscount Younger of Leckie
The noble Lord, Lord Stunell, asked about skill shortages, which is another item high on the Government’s list. The CITB is committed to helping construction employers to deliver the pipeline of work faster, better and more efficiently. The CITB aims to use its evidence base on skills requirements to ensure that employers can access the high-quality training its workforce needs. The key is to work with employers and design with them a skills system more responsive to the needs of industry.
Industrial Training Levy (Engineering Construction Industry Training Board) Order 2014
Debate between Viscount Younger of Leckie and Lord Jones(10 years, 9 months ago)
Grand CommitteeRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (Viscount Younger of Leckie) (Con)
My Lords, the purpose of this order is to seek authority for the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board—the ECITB—to impose a levy on employers in its industry in 2015, which will relate to an assessment of employers’ payroll in the 2013-2014 financial year.
It is worth spending a little time elaborating on the reasons why there is a statutory training levy in the engineering construction industry. The associated engineering construction industries construct and maintain the power and utilities infrastructure essential to the UK economy. The industries include coal and gas power, offshore oil and gas, chemical and pharmaceuticals, nuclear power and renewable energy. The construction and maintenance requirements for these industries require a mobile, flexible and highly skilled workforce. It is the employers in these industries who have, since 1991, come together to support collective action through the levy to develop the workforce, manage risks and address skills needs.
Skills are central to creating a strong, sustainable and balanced economy. The Government are committed to ensuring that skills provision meets the needs of employers and learners. While the Government have a role in setting the framework for success, employers need to be in the driving seat if we are to equip the workforce with the skills that employers need. The ECITB has a central role in the training of the workforce and in supporting the industry to achieve sustainable growth. In doing this, the Government look to the ECITB to minimise bureaucracy and to ensure that support to employers is both relevant and accessible. The ECITB is employer led, and its role is to encourage the provision of adequate training of employees and prospective employees in its industry. It provides a wide range of services, including setting occupational standards, developing vocational qualifications and delivering apprenticeships, as well as paying direct grants to employers who carry out training to approved standards.
Let us briefly reflect on what the levy has achieved. In 2013, the ECITB supported more than 2,500 apprentices at various stages of their apprenticeship programmes. Completion rates for apprenticeships in the industry are more than 90%, significantly higher than the national average. In each of the past two years, the ECITB has supported more than 30,000 learners in training programmes, including apprenticeships, skills and technical training and management and professional programmes.
The ECITB is a non-departmental public body that operates under the provisions of the Industrial Training Act 1982. The Government review all public organisations to ensure that they are delivering an effective service that offers value for money. The ECITB is currently being reviewed as part of this triennial review of industrial training boards. The review will report by the end of this summer.
The majority of employers in the engineering construction industry continue to support a statutory framework for training. The ECITB is a model of the successful application of such a framework, and the order that we are considering today will enable these statutory levy arrangements to continue. I welcome this order as evidence that employers in the engineering construction industry want to continue to invest in the skills of their workforce.
The Industrial Training Act permits the ECITB to raise a levy on employers so that the costs of training are shared more evenly among companies in the industry. This order gives effect to proposals submitted to us for a levy to be collected by the ECITB in 2015. The proposal involves the imposition of a levy in excess of 1% of payroll on some classes of employer. The Industrial Training Act requires such an order to be approved by affirmative resolution of both Houses.
The levy order can only be made if the following three conditions are satisfied: first, that the amount of levy is appropriate to meet the current skills requirements of the industry; secondly, that the proposals are necessary to encourage adequate training in the industry; and, thirdly, that the previous levy order received support from the majority of employers and the levy rates remain unchanged. I can confirm that my right honourable friend in the other place, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, is satisfied that these conditions have been met.
The Act also requires the ECITB to include proposals for exempting small employers from the levy. This order therefore provides that small firms will be exempt if their expenditure on payroll and sub-contract labour is below a certain threshold that the industry considers to be appropriate. I will come to the details of the thresholds in a moment. Those firms that are below the threshold and exempt from paying the levy are still able to benefit from grant and other support from the ECITB, and many of them indeed do so.
The ECITB does not propose to make any changes to its levy rates or small firms exemption thresholds for this levy order. The rate for site employees will remain at 1.5% of total payroll, plus net expenditure on sub-contract labour. Employers who spend £275,000 or less on site employees will not have to pay the levy. The rate in respect of off-site employees—often referred to as “head office” employees—is 0.18% of total payroll, plus net expenditure on sub-contract labour. Employers who spend £1 million or less in respect of off-site employees will not have to pay the levy. Of all the establishments that are considered to be leviable by ECITB, it is expected that around 35% will be exempted from paying the levy.
For the ECITB, the one-year proposal is expected to raise around £29 million in levy income. The Committee will note that the ECITB order covers a one-year period, whereas the Industrial Training Act requires that levy orders should normally cover a three-year period. However, a one-year levy order can be made if, first, it is made within two years of an earlier levy order for which the ECITB obtained employer support and, secondly, the levy rate is being kept the same. For this order, the ECITB will be relying on the consensus established for the 2012 order, which had the support of 59% of employers, who were likely to pay 69% of the levy. Notwithstanding that, the ECITB also undertook a consultation with the industry last year, which showed that 68% of employers, likely to pay 76% of the levy, supported the proposal for the levy to continue. The ECITB has proposed a one-year levy order, at the request of the industry, to retain the flexibility to review the levels of levy required to meet future demand. Next year, the ECITB levy order will cover a three-year period, which will be coterminous with the Construction Industry Training Board three-year levy cycle from 2015 onwards and therefore allow the ECITB to develop longer-term plans.
The Committee will know from previous debates that the ECITB exists because of the support that it receives from employers and employer interest groups in their sectors. As I indicated earlier, there is a firm belief that without the ECITB there would be a deterioration in the quantity and quality of training in the industry, leading to a deficiency in skills levels. This draft order will enable the ECITB to continue to carry out its vital training responsibilities. I commend the order to the Committee.
Lord Jones (Lab)
My Lords, it is traditional to thank the Minister for his introductory remarks, and I do so most sincerely. I want to advance just a few points, which I hope that he will see as relevant. If he cannot answer them specifically today, he may do so by letter.
I agree that the aim should be to achieve a balanced economy, as the Minister has said, and I agree that, inevitably in today’s conditions, employers should be in the driving seat—without any shadow of a doubt. The third main point that he made in his introductory remarks was that we need the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board, which is central to Britain’s manufacturing future. It is good to know that Ministers are looking in some detail at how the board operates.
Is it possible that the Minister could tell us how much in grant is being paid, to the latest date that may be available, by Her Majesty’s Government to the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board? What amount was paid in the two years previous to the current financial year?