The Industry Skills Board (ISB)

What is the Industry Skills Board (ISB)?

Facilitated by City & Guilds, the Industry Skills Board (ISB) is a group of businesses of various sizes and from a range of sectors. Their aim is to give all employers a voice in skills development, qualification and accreditation design and subsequent practicalities of adoption. The group meets quarterly to carry out in-depth analysis and debate into key UK Skills Policy matters, in order to provide practical advice and support to a wider group of employers and Policy makers.

The ISB aims to encourage successful employer adoption of skills policy and reform by using its experience and expertise whilst working collaboratively and constructively with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), government and other public bodies on policy implementation in relation to skills, training and education, to help develop the workforce of the future.

In doing so the ISB seeks to ensure that all will benefit from the intent behind Policy initiatives and helps to shape future skills strategy interventions.

Download the latest report

ISB members

isb logos with grey background

Latest report: Making Apprenticeships Work – A reflection on practice

The ISB’s latest report, Making Apprenticeships Work: A reflection on practice includes several recommendations to support the adoption of a quality framework for apprenticeships. 

This is the second iteration for Making Apprenticeships Work a report first published by the ISB in October 2015 when the apprenticeship reforms were first introduced and the levy consultation process was taking place.

Read the first report here >

Through a series of case studies and action plans, the group has revisited how to ensure a quality experience for apprentices and employers, using and adapting the quality framework apprenticeship model it first created in 2015.

The ISB recognises that we are still a long way from a system that is fully functional and truly employer-responsive and the report aims to:

  • bring the focus back to what makes a quality apprenticeship
  • use the proposed quality framework to ensure the wider systematic approach to addressing and measuring quality.

Download the latest report

Case studies

Making Apprenticeships Work: A reflection on practice, draws on the experiences of ISB members’ apprenticeship programmes. Find out more below:

Marston's

One of the UK’s top public house and brewing businesses, Martson's currently has 500 apprentices across the group on 13 different standards ranging from Level 2 to Level 5.

Read the Marston's case study >

Royal Bank of Scotland

One of the largest business and commercial banks in the UK, the Royal Bank of Scotland set up its apprenticeship programme in 2015 to create opportunities for young people with little or no work experience. Since the programme’s inception, RBS has recruited more than 1,200 apprentices.

Read the RBS case study >

Xtrac

Xtrac is the world’s leading supplier of high performance transmissions for top level Motorsport and High Performance Automotive applications. In the UK it employs 348 people and currently has 16 apprentices. Since 2003 it has taken on four engineering apprentices every year and recently increased this to five.

Read the Xtrac case study >

Intequal

Specialist IT and digital apprenticeship provider, Intequal, is a Microsoft Learning Partner. Intequal has helped to deliver more than 500 employer-led apprentices since it launched in 2013 and is an early adopter of the new standards.

Read the Intequal case study >

Gen2

Established in 2000 as a not-for-profit organisation, Gen2 was created by five companies from the engineering, nuclear and advanced manufacturing sector – Amec, British Nuclear Fuels, Corus, Iggesund Paperboard and UCB – to deliver and safeguard employer-focused apprenticeship training in Cumbria.

Read the Gen2 case study >