The Construction Industry Training Board has been judged to ‘require improvement’ in a damning Ofsted report, after the body announced a shift away from subcontracted apprenticeship provision.
The CITB – rated ‘outstanding’ in its last inspection six years ago – was given the second-lowest rating across all five areas on which it was assessed, with leaders found to “focus too heavily on contract compliance” at the expense of education quality.
Its decision to withdraw from subcontracted provision has seen the number of learners shrink from 9,000 in 2017 to just 629, as it focuses instead on specialist apprenticeships in areas such as plant operations, ground- and formworks, and scaffolding.
The board said its business model had “fundamentally changed” since 2021 in response to a change in government policy on further education.
“CITB now works more widely with employers and providers nationally on the delivery of apprenticeship provision locally,” it said in a statement.
“We continue to deliver training directly in niche areas that would be prohibitively expensive for the rest of the market to provide for.”
The board said no new apprentices would be taken on through its 24 subcontractor partners across the country, although it committed to support all apprentices who remained in learning.
The Ofsted report, based on an inspection in March, found subcontracted provision was not effectively managed and raised concerns about the quality of education provided.
“Leaders focus too heavily on contract compliance and not on the quality of education, or the skills apprentices develop or their progress,” it said.
“As a result, apprentices take too long to achieve.”
Too few apprentices studying at subcontractors’ sites across England achieved their apprenticeships in the timeframe expected, it added, while on- and off-the-job training for these apprentices was not sufficiently linked to allow apprentices to build their skills incrementally.
However, it noted that recently recruited new managers had already taken decisive action to improve the quality of provision – including ceasing the use of subcontractors – which had succeeded in reducing the large number of apprentices beyond their planned end date.
“While it is too early to judge the full impact of many of their actions, the changes made are already having a demonstrable positive impact,” it stated.
CITB said it had been aware of the challenges highlighted in the inspection and had taken steps to improve provision.
“There are many examples of high-quality practice across our apprenticeship provision, much of which was recognised by Ofsted, and we are acting rapidly to extend this quality right across our CITB apprenticeships,” it added.
At the end of last year, it was revealed that the CITB could be forced to repay up to £10.3m after claiming government cash for its apprenticeship scheme without providing the required evidence that it sufficiently met funding requirements.
