Highways giant Via praised for its teaching of apprentices at Bilsthorpe centre

Via East Midlands Ltd provides highways services, including road maintenance, for Nottinghamshire County Council across the county, including in Mansfield and Ashfield.

The firm operates its own training centre, and holds a contract with the Education and Skills Funding Agency to deliver government-funded apprenticeship training. So it must receive monitoring visits from Ofsted inspectors.

Via offers apprenticeships for its own workers and on behalf of other employers in the East Midlands. At the time of Ofsted’s latest visit last month, three were five apprentices on the books – three under-18s and two adults. They were on level-two courses for highways maintenance skilled operative or construction plant operative.

Inspectors found that the courses ”meet all the necessary requirements” and that “apprentices are supported well and receive adequate, well-planned on and off-the-job training”.

"The courses help apprentices to develop new knowledge, skills and behaviour,” the Ofsted report read. “Trainers have appropriate experience within the sector, and use their expertise well to support apprentices.

"The apprentices are taught in dedicated, well-equipped classrooms. When undertaking practical work in the depot, they benefit from high-quality, industry-standard plant and equipment.”

The report said apprentices develop “an in-depth understanding” of the skills they need for the job. For instance, those on the construction plant operative course learn how to operate a wide range of machinery, such as loading shovels, rear-tipping dumper trucks and ride-on rollers.

Ofsted’s overall verdict was that Via is making “reasonable progress” in two of the the categories of its inspection. However, “insufficient progress” was the ruling on the third category, which covered effective safeguarding arrangements.

The inspectors accepted that “suitable safeguarding policies are in place” and that staff “are suitable trained”. It also accepted that apprentices “receive appropriate guidance on online safety and the dangers of radicalisation”.

But “leaders and managers do not have suitable processes in place to ensure the safer recruitment of staff who work with apprentices”.

The report added: “The required pre-employment checks are not completed in a timely manner and are not adequately recorded.”