Sarah Beale takes over with training body’s future on the line, as she announces plans to cut levy.
The CITB is yet to decide whether its cut in the levy will be a permanent or temporary measure and has been driven to make the cut to reduce its £90m cash reserves, acting chief executive Sarah Beale has revealed. Cutting the levy by a third is part of a number of sweetener initiatives the body is rolling out over the coming year.
Beale took up her new post at the end of last year, taking over from Adrian Belton, who had led the training body since 2014. After 12 years at the CITB in roles such as chief financial officer and corporate performance director, the former accountant has taken the top position at a critical time.
The organisation is fighting to survive a government review of levy-funded training bodies being carried out by Paul Morrell, the former chief construction adviser.
It also faces a crunch vote later this year on industry consensus over its levy-raising powers amidst growing negative sentiment. Larger firms will also have to pay the new apprenticeship levy and there is much criticism that CITB doesn’t do enough to help SMEs.
The vote will take place in August and September, with a government decision expected by February 2018. The CITB needs to win more than 50% of the construction vote in terms of numbers of levy payers and value of the levy paid.
Talking of her plans to cut the levy Beale says that the CITB needs reserves it can call on to service the industry’s peaks and flows, but “ultimately it is the industry’s money that is sitting there so it needs to be put to better use”.
Dovetailing with the levy cut, the CITB also plans to overhaul the way it pays grants to construction firms from April 2018.
The new proposal would see the introduction of automated grant payments with firms no longer having to apply to the CITB for the cash. The new automated system is aimed at alleviating the HR burden on firms, particularly SMEs, with employers no longer having to engage in a lengthy grant application process.
"We’ve been listening to industry feedback and what industry has told us is that we’re a little bit difficult to understand and can be too complex."
Sarah Beale, CITB
Says Beale: “We’ve been listening to industry feedback and what industry has told us is that we’re a little bit difficult to understand and can be too complex, so what we want to do is hone down and just do a few things really clearly and really well.”
There are also plans to launch a national competence register for construction workers, which would provide employers with a training CV for every employee, outlining the training that person has undertaken throughout their career.
Beale says this overall drive towards more transparency is about collecting a clear evidence base that can be used in the future for the way it delivers its services and training support.
“We acknowledge that changes have to be made and we want to be able to do the right things well and deliver products and services directly and deliver as much of the levy back into value-added services, either through direct funding or through services construction firms are asking for us to support,” she says.
She maintains that the future lies in increasing the evidence base available to the construction industry to ensure it stays ahead of the curve when it comes to skills shortages. One of the ways this may be done is through a skills map of the UK where the construction sector uses tangible data to better plan for future skills needs.
The database would not only look at what skills are needed in certain geographies or sectors, but whether there are the right training resources in those areas to ensure the needs can be met.
This, in turn, can be used by employers to plan their training and influence government policy, as well as delivering the overall CITB services more effectively.
Questioned about Mark Farmer’s report Modernise or Die, which called for an overhaul of the CITB, and the growing spectre of Paul Morrell’s review, Beale says she is confident there is a future for the CITB.
“I absolutely do think there is a future for us and we’re working alongside Mark Farmer and Paul Morrell. In particular Paul and the review team. I honestly see that by working with both of those there’s some real opportunities. We ourselves recognise the need to reform – hence our plans.”
She adds: “Paul is very keen on working with us and industry to draw up ways to measure the effect of what we do and the impact it has on the sector. That way we can then align our services, so in the future the industry will be more clear on the value and difference the CITB has made.”
