Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of reducing the funding bands for the (a) team leader manager apprenticeship, (b) operations manager apprenticeship and (c) chartered manager degree apprenticeship on the (i) quality of provision, (ii) number of providers, (iii) number of apprentices and (iv) diversity and social background of those apprentices; and if he will publish those assessments.

The independent Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA) is responsible for advising on the funding bands for apprenticeships.

In May 2018, it was announced that the department had commissioned the IfA to review the funding bands of 31 existing standards to ensure that apprenticeships continue to provide quality training which represents value for money for employers and for government. The review has not altered the high quality content of standards. Instead, it has taken older standards that were allocated to funding bands prior to the IfA’s creation through the IfA’s funding band allocation process using the new 30-band structure. This provides consistency in the way that apprenticeships are allocated to funding bands. The reductions to degree apprenticeships for the roles of team leader or supervisor, operations and departmental manager and chartered manager were in line with the IfA’s recommendations as part of the funding band review.

In addition to considering the IfA’s advice, officials in the department assessed all recommendations from the review to consider the impact on the market, including for providers and apprentices. These assessments form part of internal policy advice.

The IfA’s recommendations followed extensive employer engagement. The IfA is responsible for managing employer engagement with the reviews, however we have also received one representation from an employer representative body concerning these standards.

The department will continue to work with the IfA to ensure that funding bands are appropriate and will monitor the impact of these changes once they come into effect.