Driver CPC a ‘missed opportunity’ says skills consultant

Moloney is the former CEO of the recently defunct sector skills council Skills for Logistics.

He explains: "Driver CPC is not ideal and we should be mature enough to reflect and reconsider. I believe in training. But I don’t believe in DCPC as it is now.

"This is a missed opportunity and actually many employers simply see it as an extra burden both in terms of time and money. A quick Internet search shows the widespread disaffection with the current DCPC. Having completed the initial five year cycle, why not think about what it is that we really want out of DCPC and how can we achieve it? Being able to repeat the same course 5 times in a week just doesn’t feel right.”

Moloney has been actively engaged with skills policy for the last ten years and has launched FireDog Research, a research, marketing and communications agency.

Political football

Moloney also cautioned political parties against using apprenticeships as a political football in the run-up to the General Election.

"As all of the major political parties promise increased numbers of apprenticeships, I fear that we are getting close to them becoming a political football. I believe in Apprenticeships that deliver high quality and meaningful training.

"This is surely the crucial part of the offer. But it is vital that greater uptake should not be prioritised to the detriment of quality. There is a long and depressing history of qualifications suffering because they are treated as a synonym for educational success.

"It is vital that we must not mess up apprenticeships but we should acknowledge that they are not perfect. Genuine improvement is needed, not simply change for its own sake. Crucially, funding should be aligned with market need and market failure – having the same funding model across all frameworks is a flawed approach.”