Federation says merger risks weakening the voice of small building firms
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has hit out at the government’s proposals to merge the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and the Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB).
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is currently consulting on plans to bring the two industry bodies together, on the recommendation of a 2023 review of the ITBs by Mark Farmer.
The Farmer Review urged a refocused strategy spanning attraction, training, retraining and retention to drive productivity and capacity, a key element of which was the creation of a unified organisation.
The DWP’s consultation document said the merger would remove duplication, increase sharing of effective practice and promote innovation, freeing resources “that can be refocused to meet industry wide and sector specific skills needs, maximising the return on employers’ levy contributions”.
It also highlighted the “strong foundation of joint working between the CITB and ECITB”, including a long-standing partnership in labour market intelligence and workforce forecasting.
In its response to the consultation, the FMB, which represents SME construction firms across the country, warned that a merger risked weakening the voice of small building firms unless major reforms were built into the new structure.
“Small building companies are not convinced this merger is being driven by what is best for them or for construction skills more broadly,” said FMB chief executive Brian Berry.
“The Government has not made a clear case for how merging CITB and ECITB would improve outcomes for small builders, and there is a real risk that the voice of smaller firms will be diluted even further in a larger organisation with the introduction of large multinational engineering firms.”
The FMB has said there was no clear evidence that a single, unified training board would improve skills outcomes for small and micro building companies and argued that the needs of SMEs would be pushed aside in a larger organisation.
“If the Department for Work and Pensions is determined to press ahead, it must ensure the new organisation is built around the reality of the construction sector,” said Berry.
“That means giving representative bodies a formal place in governance, being far more transparent about how decisions are made and how levy funding is spent and shifting to a culture that listens to and works alongside the industry.”
According to the FMB, the structural reforms needed would include formally integrating Prescribed Organisations into the governance structure. The FMB is one of 15 such organisations which help the CITB engage with the wider industry.
“Without those changes, small builders will once again be asked to pay in without getting the support they need back out,” said Berry.
No comments yet