The government organisation tasked with overseeing apprenticeship standards and assessment plans has launched the hunt for a new chief executive.
The Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education is offering up to £140,000 a year for the role, which is graded at Senior Civil Service Pay Band 2. The organisation’s current chief executive officer is Sir Gerry Berragan, who was appointed for a term of up to two years in November 2017
The institute has 150 staff and offices in London and Coventry. The job specification stipulates that the next chief executive could be based at either location – but will need to “spend time” in both.
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It added: “The chief executive is expected to be a visible and authoritative presence on the public stage and in engaging with senior figures in the private and public sector and must be a credible figure with employers”.
From last month, the institute took on responsibility for T-level technical qualifications. In addition to overseeing standards for apprenticeships, the institute also advises on the maximum level of government funding available for those standards and how much employers can claim for them.
The job advertisement said the new chief executive would be tasked with ensuring the institute remained “in step with the direction of the government’s reform agenda” and ensure that apprenticeships and technical qualifications got appropriate recognition.
“This is a unique and great opportunity to positively influence the institute at an exciting stage in its development and drive forward the skills landscape of this country,” the job advertisement said.
In May last year it emerged that Department for Education perm sec Jonathan Slater had sought a written ministerial direction from education secretary Damian Hinds over the timetable for introducing T-levels. He said plans to introduce the first three T-levels in 2020 were “very challenging” and should be pushed back.
Current IfA chief exec Berragan has not resigned and could potentially reapply for his current role on a permanent basis.
He was already a non-executive board member at the IfA in 2017 and offered to serve as CEO after two rounds of the recruitment process failed to identify a suitable candidate.
A spokesperson for the institute said: “Having not gone through the full competitive selection process, he could only be appointed for a maximum of two years under Civil Service Commission rules. So the post was always going to have to be competed again in 2019.”
The closing date for applications is 29 April.