The CITB’s three-year plan sets out where the £614m of levy income will be going.
The CITB expects that initiatives that it is launching this year, including new publicity campaigns, will by 2025 result in a 63% increase in the number of apprentices joining construction and a 110% increase in the diversity of applicants (from 2,140 in 2018/19 to 4,500 in 2025).
The lack of NVQ assessors is also being addressed in CITB’s business plan, with an additional 220 assessors set to be trained this year, adding capacity to deliver an additional 22,000 vocational qualifications per year. It will also fund the set-up of eight assessment centres, adding further capacity to train assessors.
The CITB promises to “open new seams of talent to the industry”, with “a radical, new, nationwide campaign”.
Over the next three years, the CITB plans to spend £349m on its grant scheme, split between £193m for apprenticeships, £81m for construction qualifications and £75m for short courses.
A further £127m will go on industry-wide initiatives, with direct funding and commissions to address industry-wide skills issues.
It will also spend £42m on ‘research & partnerships’, which includes its lobbying activities, and £29m on promotional campaigns.
There is a further £4m for developing standards and qualifications and £38m for the CITB skills & training fund, to support small & micro employers with company-specific skills issues. This fund is being widened to medium-sized employers from April 2020. There’s £3m to be held in reserves.
CITB chief executive Sarah Beale said: “Our business plan identifies the most pressing skills challenges we face as an industry, and sets out the detail of how CITB will work with partners to address them.
“We’ve built the plan by listening to employers and their needs, and making sure CITB is focused on a small number of really critical projects that it is best placed to deliver, whilst improving our services too.
“Working with employers, learners and education, I’m confident that this plan will help transform construction and make it fit for the future.”
The report is online at www.citb.co.uk
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