REGISTER OF APPRENTICESHIP TRAINING PROVIDERS

That this House is concerned that at least 21 colleges across England failed to get onto the new Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers; notes that the new process and the trialled new approach to assessing quality was unfamiliar to all providers; further notes that the majority of failed providers answered one of the questions on quality inadequately; notes one applicant was rejected for failing one question despite recently receiving a Grade 1 from Ofsted for its apprenticeship provision; notes some new organisations with no track record of delivery are on the Register and that unsuccessful colleges now stand to lose millions of pounds in funding from the Skills Funding Agency; regrets that these colleges will miss out on the allocation of funding to deliver apprenticeships with SMEs, which for many is the majority of their delivery, and will be unable to deliver apprenticeships during the current academic year; expresses concern that the Government's new approach to registering training organisations will not raise quality of apprenticeships and will result in local colleges being unable to deliver apprenticeships with local SMEs in September 2017; urgently calls on the Secretary of State for Education to review this new approach; and further calls on the Skills Funding Agency to hold back funding available for SME delivery to allow for investment in those successful in the second round of the register.