In a letter to business secretary Sajid Javid she said: “The apprenticeship levy is a significant step. Its introduction is not an approach the CBI supported. However, if it is to be successful in providing the higher rates of training we all want to see, the levy system must ensure training is relevant and valuable for business and that it helps individuals build their careers.”
She added: “Given the fundamental shift that the levy signifies, the opportunity exists to create a stable business led system that offers both growth for companies and ladders to social mobility. However, there is also a risk that a levy increases business cost without increasing the stock of training overall. Proposed timescales are tight, but the importance of taking time to do this well outweighs any political imperative.”
She set out for key principles that businesses would like to see embedded within the new system. These are the system must be driven by economic and business need; flexibility by sector and size of firm is essential; the system should fund quality and reward commitment, and relevant and simple apprenticeship standards across all parts of the UK will remain key.
