Citation, commencement and interpretation

1. —(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Public Sector Apprenticeship Targets Regulations 2017 and come into force on 31st March 2017.

(2) In these Regulations—

“the 2009 Act” means the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009;

“Group A” has the meaning given by regulation 3(2);

“Group B” has the meaning given by regulation 3(3);

“headcount” has the meaning given by regulation 2;

“target period” has the meaning given by regulation 5.

Headcount

2. —(1) A public body’s headcount is equal to the number of persons who work for that public body in England.

(2) A person works for a public body if the person—

(a) works for the public body as a worker within the meaning given by section 230(3) of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (employees and other workers)( 2 );

(b) is an apprentice working for the public body, whether the apprenticeship agreement is with the public body itself or with an apprenticeship training agency( 3 ); or

(c) works for the public body in the course of Crown employment or of service as a member of the naval, military or air forces of the Crown.

(3) But a person coming within any of paragraphs (4) to (6) does not, for the purposes of these Regulations, work for that public body.

(4) A person comes within this paragraph if the person works for the public body under a zero hours contract.

(5) A person comes within this paragraph if the person works for the public body on behalf of a contractor.

(6) A person comes within this paragraph if the person works under an apprenticeship agreement with a public body which is an apprenticeship training agency with a view to being supplied to another public body.

(7) In this regulation—

“Crown employment” has the meaning given by section A7(6) of the 2009 Act( 4 );

“zero hours contract” has the same meaning as in section 27A of the Employment Rights Act 1996( 5 ).

Prescribed public bodies

3. —(1) The following are prescribed for the purposes of section A9(1) of the 2009 Act—

(a) Group A; and

(b) Group B.

(2)Group A is the group of public bodies which comprises—

(a) government departments, other than the Government Communications Headquarters; and

(b) those public bodies listed in Schedule 1.

(3)Group B comprises Transport for London( 6 ) and those of its subsidiaries which are public bodies.

(4) In addition, a public body is prescribed for the purposes of section A9(1) of the 2009 Act if on the day before the first day of one or more reporting periods in the target period the body—

(a) is not a constituent part of Group A or Group B;

(b) is not described in Schedule 2; and

(c) has a headcount equal to, or greater than 250.

Reporting periods

4. For the purposes of section A10(5) of the 2009 Act (reporting periods) the financial year of—

(a) the Department for Education, which begins with 1st April and ends with 31st March in the following calendar year, is to be used to determine the reporting periods for all the prescribed public bodies within Group A;

(b) Transport for London, which begins with 1st April and ends with 31st March in the following calendar year, is to be used to determine the reporting periods for all the prescribed public bodies within Group B;

(c) Westminster City Council, which begins with 1st April and ends with 31st March in the following calendar year, is to be used to determine the reporting periods for all the prescribed public bodies coming within regulation 3(4).

Target period

5. The target period is the period beginning with 1st April 2017 and ending with 31st March 2021.

Public sector apprenticeship targets

6. —(1) The apprenticeship target for each of Group A and Group B is to ensure that the total number of apprentices who —

(a) begin working for the public bodies comprising those groups, and whose apprenticeship agreements began during the target period; and

(b) ordinarily work in England,

is equal to figure Z.

(2) The apprenticeship target for a public body referred to in regulation 3(4) is to ensure that the total number of apprentices who—

(a) begin working for that public body during an active period or periods (taken as a whole), and whose apprenticeship agreements began during an active period; and

(b) ordinarily work in England,

is equal to figure Z.

(3) In paragraph (2)(a), “active period”, in relation to a public body referred to in regulation 3(4), means a 12-month period coinciding with a reporting period—

(a) which is in the target period; and

(b) in respect of which the body satisfies the conditions set out in regulation 3(4) on the day before the first day of that reporting period.

Public sector apprenticeship target: Group A and Group B

7. —(1)Figure Z in respect of Group A and Group B is calculated in accordance with the steps outlined in the following paragraphs.

(2) Step 1 is to ascertain the total headcount of each of Group A and Group B on the day before the first day of each reporting period in the target period, that number being figure—

(a) “W1” in relation to the reporting period beginning with 1st April 2017;

(b) “W2” in relation to the reporting period beginning with 1st April 2018;

(c) “W3” in relation to the reporting period beginning with 1st April 2019;

(d) “W4” in relation to the reporting period beginning with 1st April 2020.

(3) Step 2 is to multiply each of figures W1, W2, W3 and W4 in relation to that Group by 0.023, the sum of which being for the reporting period beginning with—

(a) 1st April 2017, “figure X1”;

(b) 1st April 2018, “figure X2”;

(c) 1st April 2019, “figure X3”;

(d) 1st April 2020, “figure X4”.

(4) Step 3 is to calculate the total of figures X1, X2, X3 and X4, as they relate to each of Group A and Group B (“figure Y”).

(5) Step 4 is to round figure Y up or down to the nearest whole number (“figure Z”).

Public sector apprenticeship target: other public bodies

8. —(1) Figure Z in respect of a public body referred to in regulation 3(4) is calculated in accordance with the steps outlined in the following paragraphs.

(2) Step 1 is to ascertain the total headcount of the public body on the day before the first day of each active period.

(3) Step 2 is to multiply each of the figures determined under Step 1 by 0.023.

(4) Step 3 is to add together the figures determined under Step 2.

(5) Step 4 is to round up or down to the nearest whole number the total calculated under Step 3, with the resulting rounded figure being figure Z.

(6) Where the public body is an apprenticeship training agency, any apprentices which the agency supplies to another public body must not be taken into account when calculating figure Z.

(7) In this regulation, “active period” has the meaning given by regulation 6(3).

Prescribed information

9. The information prescribed under section A10(1)(b) of the 2009 Act is—

(a) the information described in paragraphs (a) to (d) of section A10(3) of the 2009 Act (information explaining steps taken to meet a target or reasons why a target has not or may not be met);

(b) the figure determined under Step 1 in regulation 7(2) or 8(2) (as the case may be) in respect of the reporting period in question (headcount on the day before the first day of each reporting period in the target period);

(c) figure B (the number of apprentices who began to work for the body during each reporting period) expressed as a percentage of each of the figures described in paragraph (b).

Regulation 3(2)(b)

SCHEDULE 1

1. Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service.

2. Health and Safety Executive.

3. Office for Budget Responsibility.

Regulation 3(4)(b)

SCHEDULE 2

1. The British Broadcasting Corporation and any of its subsidiaries.

2. Channel Four Television Corporation and any of its subsidiaries.

3. The House of Commons.

4. The House of Lords.

5. Post Office Ltd( 7 ) and any of its subsidiaries.

6. A charity within the meaning of section 1(1) of the Charities Act 2011( 8 ) which—

(a) does not come within any other paragraph in this Schedule;

(b) is not a school within the meaning of section 4(1) of the Education Act 1996( 9 );

(c) is not a 16 to 19 Academy within the meaning of section 1B of the Academies Act 2010( 10 ).

7. A further education corporation within the meaning of section 17 of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992( 11 ).

8. A housing association within the meaning of section 1 of the Housing Associations Act 1985( 12 ).

9. A housing trust within the meaning of section 2 of the Housing Associations Act 1985.

10. An independent school within the meaning of section 463(1) of the Education Act 1996( 13 ).

11. An institution incorporated in, or formed under the law of any part of the United Kingdom, which has permission under Part 4A of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000( 14 ) to carry on any regulated activity within the meaning of section 22( 15 ) of that Act.

12. A university, including any university college and any college, or institution in the nature of a college, in a university.