1. Higher Level Apprenticeships

2. Current Position SVQ Level 4&5 MA Frameworks been around and used in Scotland since 2009 Lead the way across UK for recognising role of higher level work based skills 9 MA frameworks at SVQ level 4 – including Accounting, Health and Social Care and Management 5 MA frameworks at SVQ level 5 – including Construction and Supply Chain Management

3. The Need for Review Purpose of an MA in Scotland to support the Vocational and general employability skills of participants MAG noticed that for many of the Higher Level MAs contained little or no additional core skills development beyond the level 3 framework In part due to the fact that our work place skills only go up to SCQF level 6 Towards the end of 2010 MAG began to raise the need to address this

4. Political Background The SNP Manifesto for the 2011 parliamentary elections contained a commitment to look at increasing the number of higher level apprenticeships in Scotland Next steps: In the summer of 2011 it was agreed that we would include work on higher level apprenticeships as part of Making Training Work Better.

5. MTWB Undertook a large amount of consultation across SSCs, Training Providers and employers. A number of conclusions emerged: There is a lot of support from businesses for using work-based training as a tool for developing and up-skilling staff There was a greater need to have flexibility of the mandatory qualifications at the higher level as it was not always viable to develop an SVQ Employed status of an apprentice is fundamental to success for individual and employer Core skills at a higher level should be focussed more on the work based requirements of jobs within the workplace

6. Next Steps Ministers are still to make any announcements about a range of themes considered as part of Making Training Work Better That includes how we will take forward the further development of higher level apprenticeships in Scotland The driver for this will be support, enthusiasm and evidence from employers about how we can support their skills needs moving forward – continued role for SSCs in Scotland

7. Role Out of Universal Services Remiss to talk about future apprenticeship framework development without referencing the implementation of the Universal Services Doing a lot of work with UKCES on MA requirements for Scotland Quality, relevance and employer input to framework development will remain fundamental to the MAG approvals process. Key will be early communication between all of us particularly when considering emerging and immediate skills needs

8. Closing comments The MA programme has gone from strength to strength in recent year Completion rates Increasing no. of employers engaged Increasing no. of apprentices This is down to huge commitment across interested partners