“To deliver a genuinely world-class apprenticeship programme, we will need a long-term governance arrangement which will support employers to uphold the high quality of apprenticeship standards and be able to respond to the changing needs of business”.

Along with the target of 3 million new apprenticeship starts by 2020, these are the drivers behind the setting up of the new Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA).  

Proposals for how the IfA will operate have now been published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Operational from April 2017, draft measures for the IfA include:

• Powers to undertake quality and approval functions in relation to apprenticeship standards and assessment plans and for assessing the quality of the end point assessment for each apprenticeship
• Responsibility to advise Government of funding allocations per each apprenticeship standard
• Maintaining positive employer engagement in the apprenticeship development process and give it greater credibility by moving functions away from Government to those with the necessary skills and experience.