The government announced an extension of the 'Train to Gain' scheme, designed to offer skills brokerage and high-quality responsive training to enable all employers to identify and then meet their skills needs. Funding of the scheme would be doubled.
Source: Press release 26 November 2007, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (020 7215 5555) | Train to Gain: A Plan For Growth – November 2007-July 2011, Learning and Skills Council (0870 900 6800)
Links: DIUS press release | Plan
Date: 2007-Nov
The government announced (in the Queen's Speech) a Bill to raise the compulsory education participation age in England to 17 by 2013 and 18 by 2015, and a Bill was published. It also set out a new strategy to tackle the problem of the estimated 10 per cent of young people categorized at any one time as 'not in education, employment or training' ('Neets'): young people aged under 18 who spent more than six months as 'Neets' would have to actively look for work when they turned 18, instead of being automatically eligible for jobseeker's allowance. The government also announced an additional 90,000 apprenticeships for young people by 2013 (a 60 per cent increase on the existing number).
Source: Education and Skills Bill, Department for Children, Schools and Families, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Text of Bill | Explanatory notes | Speech | DCSF press release (1) | DCSF press release (2) | NUT press release | NASUWT press release | UCU press release | GTCE press release | QIA press release | NCH press release | Barnardos press release | CPAG press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | BCC press release | FSB press release | CIPD press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Personnel Today report | Telegraph report (1) | Telegraph report (2) | Telegraph report (3) | FT report
Date: 2007-Nov
The government announced funding of over £1 billion designed to increase overall apprenticeship places from 250,000 to more than 400,000 by 2010-11. Overall spending on adult skills and apprenticeships would increase by 17 per cent over the three-year period from 2007-08 to 2010-11.
Source: Press release 16 November 2007, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (020 7215 5555) | Our Statement of Priorities: Better Skills, Better Jobs, Better Lives – The Learning and Skills Council's priorities and key actions for 2008/09 to 2010/11, Learning and Skills Council (0870 900 6800)
Links: DIUS press release | LSC plan | TUC press release | CBI press release | BCC press release | CIPD press release | TAEN press release | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report | Personnel Today report | FT report
Date: 2007-Nov
The government announced (in the Queen's Speech) plans to publish a draft Apprenticeships Bill. The draft Bill would consider the scope for reforms to the apprenticeship programme, and the need for legislative changes. It would cover a statutory definition of apprenticeships, arrangements for determining the content of apprenticeship frameworks, and a right to public funding for apprenticeship programmes. Public bodies would be compelled to offer apprenticeships; the Bill also would amend minimum wage regulations on the existing apprenticeship exemptions.
Source: Her Majesty's Most Gracious Speech to Both Houses of Parliament, 6 November 2007, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Queens Speech | Downing Street press release | TUC press release | ALP press release
Date: 2007-Nov
The Prime Minister said that minimum standards in England's schools would be raised, with all schools needing to have 30 per cent of their pupils achieving 5 good GCSEs by 2012-13 including English and maths. Schools which failed to meet that target could face being taken over by interim management boards, or by other successful schools including independent schools, or being turned into academies. He also announced plans to overhaul the apprenticeship system, to make training more widely available.
Source: Speech by Gordon Brown MP (Prime Minister), 31 October 2007
Links: Text of speech | TDA press release | LGA press release | NASUWT press release | PAT press release | CBI press release | NUS press release | Telegraph report | FT report | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2007-Oct
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on post-16 skills. It said that it had made good progress on improving post-16 skills: but it recognized that delivering its ambition to became a world leader on skills by 2020 – as recommended by Lord Leitch – would require further action.
Source: Post-16 Skills: Government Response to the Committee's Ninth Report, Seventh Special Report (Session 2006-07), HC 1101, House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report | ATL press release
Date: 2007-Oct
The government responded to a report by a committee of peers on apprenticeships. The government said that it was strongly committed to expanding and improving the apprenticeship programme, in order both to help achieve its objective of full employment and to give more choice to young people.
Source: The Government Response to the House of Lords Select Committee on Economic Affairs' Fifth Report of Session 2006-07 on Apprenticeships, Cm 7228, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | Peers report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Oct
A trade union report called for action to close the training divide between graduate and unskilled workers.
Source: Time to Tackle the Training Divide, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release
Date: 2007-Sep
A report by a committee of MPs commended the government for its sustained focus on skills, but raised a number of concerns about the direction of existing policy. Skills were only part of a very complex equation, and simply boosting training would not necessarily lead to increased prosperity?particularly in economic terms. What was needed was more coherent support for employers to develop their businesses as a whole, addressing skills needs alongside other issues such as capital investment, innovation, and workforce planning.
Source: Post-16 Skills, Ninth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 333, House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | TUC press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2007-Aug
The government published its response to the Leitch Review of skills in England. It set out the recommendations made by the review which the government had decided to adopt, including: 95 per cent of adults to have basic skills in literacy and numeracy by 2020; more than 90 per cent of adults to have GCSEs or vocational equivalents by 2020; and more than 40 per cent of adults to have degree or higher level qualifications by 2020. The government said that it wanted a 'skills revolution', in which vocational training was driven by employers. It announced the setting up of a new career service for adults aged 19-25, which would offer advice on training, job-seeking, and childcare. 'Skills accounts' would also be set up to help eligible benefit claimants back into work and training, with individuals taking responsibility for their skills and learning. But plans to give employers control of the national skills training budget by 2010 were dropped.
Source: World Class Skills: Implementing the Leitch Review of Skills in England, Cm 7181, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | DIUS press release | TUC press release | ALP press release | ASCL press release | UCU press release | NUS press release | CBI press release | BCC press release | BBC report | FT report | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2007-Jul
A report examined the potential effect of trade unions on training provision in the workplace. Union recognition had a consistently positive effect not only on the extent to which employees were provided with training, but also on the amount of training they received. Workplaces were more likely to offer higher levels of employee training when they recognized trade unions, and where unions directly negotiated with management over training.
Source: Mark Stuart and Andrew Robinson, Training, Union Recognition and Collective Bargaining: Findings from the 2004 Workplace Employment Relations Survey, Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change/University of Leeds (0113 343 6321)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jul
A report by a committee of peers said that vocational training would become more relevant to the needs of employers if the money spent on each apprentice were given directly to employers, rather than to training providers.
Source: Apprenticeship: A key route to skill, 5th Report (Session 2006-07), HL 138, House of Lords Economic Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NUS press release | FT report | BBC report | Young People Now report
Date: 2007-Jul
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the skills issues facing manufacturing industry.
Source: Better Skills for Manufacturing: Government Response to the Committee's Fifth Report, Fourth Special Report (Session 2006-07), HC 845, House of Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2007-Jul
A think-tank report said that many training courses called 'apprenticeships' were not worthy of the name. Nearly half (47 per cent) were not completed; most contained little or no workplace element; most were not directly mentored; and many enjoyed no employer engagement whatsoever. These problems were exacerbated by the new programme-led apprenticeships which enabled apprentices to begin their training before they had secured a work placement. The top-down, target-driven system developed by the government should be replaced with one driven by employers and based on systematic workplace training under the guidance of an experienced mentor.
Source: John Hayes MP and Scott Kelly, Towards a Gold Standard for Craft: Guaranteeing professional apprenticeships, Centre for Policy Studies (020 7222 4488)
Links: Report | CPS press release
Date: 2007-Jun
A report by a Conservative Party policy group called for a radical overhaul of state funding for skills training. It said that the existing system was unable to fill the skills gap because it was an 'unresponsive, top-down bureaucracy'. It recommended a new, demand-led system which would ensure that industry rather than bureaucracies identified the types of training needed by future employers.
Source: Skills Training for a More Competitive Economy, Economic Competitiveness Policy Group/Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Report | Conservative Party press release | FT report
Date: 2007-Jun
The new Prime Minster (Gordon Brown MP) announced that the Department for Education and Skills would be disbanded. Its responsibilities for schools would be transferred to a new Department for Children, Schools and Families. Its responsibilities for further and higher education would be transferred to a new Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills, which would also deal with science policy. Funding for training and education at ages 16-19 would in future be distributed by local education authorities.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 28 June 2007, columns 36-40WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | Downing Street press release | DCSF press release | DIUS press release | NASUWT press release | ASCL press release | NUS press release | ATL press release | PCS press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2) | Guardian report (3) | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | FT report
Date: 2007-Jun
A paper examined evidence on the labour market value of basic skills, as measured by both earnings and employability. Having better basic skills was significantly associated with the likelihood of being in employment and full-time employment at age 33-34.
Source: Anna Vignoles, Augustin De Coulon and Oscar Marcenaro-Gutierrez, The Value of Basic Skills in the British Labour Market, DP77, Centre for the Economics of Education/London School of Economics (020 7955 7285)
Date: 2007-May
A report examined the volume, type, and pattern of employer-provided training in 2006. 61 per cent of employers had provided training to employees in the previous 12 months. This was slightly lower than found for a comparable survey for 2005 (65 per cent), driven by a fall in the proportion of micro-establishments (those with between 2-4 employees) providing training. Among employers with more than 5 staff, the proportion providing training had risen slightly.
Source: Mark Winterbotham and Katie Carter, Workforce Training in England 2006, Research Report 848, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2007-May
A report by a committee of MPs gave support to the principle of a 'demand-led' skills strategy, as outlined in the official Leitch report. This should, however, reflect the needs of employees as well as employers. There were concerns about the implementation of the strategy, for example the variable performance of Sector Skills Councils. There was also a need for simplifying public sector skills provision over and above the reforms outlined in the Leitch report.
Source: Better Skills for Manufacturing, Fifth Report (Session 2006-07), HC 493, House of Commons Trade and Industry Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-May
A report said that workers were wrongly branded as low-skilled because the national qualification system did not recognize the excellent training schemes many undertook at work.
Source: Shaping up for the Future: The business vision for education and skills, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247)
Links: CBI press release
Date: 2007-Apr
A survey sought to identify the practices and preferences of employers in filling low-skilled vacancies. The skill most looked for by employers, and the one they considered the most important, was interpersonal/teamwork skills. Just over half said they provided on-the-job training.
Source: Nick Coleman, Ken Seeds and Gareth Edwards, DWP Employers Survey, Research Report 419, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2007-Mar
A paper examined job-skills mismatches. It considered whether firms were failing to utilize the skills of their existing labour force; and whether firms were hiring workers not capable of fulfilling their job requirements without adequate training provision.
Source: Marc Cowling, Job Matching in the UK: Determinants and implications of underskilling and overskilling, Working Paper 9, Institute for Employment Studies (01273 686751)
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-Mar
A paper said that public policy that simply encouraged more employers to train more staff might be missing the point. Training should be related to business strategy rather than corporate or government policy, and learning on the job was often more useful than attending formal courses.
Source: David Ashton, Public Policy, Training and Skill Formation: Challenging some current myths, Futureskills Scotland (0141 248 2700)
Links: Report | Summary | Leicester University press release
Date: 2007-Mar
A report examined the engagement of employers with higher education institutions. Employers were put off by relatively high transactions costs, and a channel was needed that would allow employers with limited resources to engage more fully.
Source: Terence Hogarth et al., Employer and University Engagement in the Use and Development of Graduate Level Skills, Research Report 835, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2007-Mar
An article examined the link between apprenticeship and large employers. The prospects for increased sponsorship of apprenticeship by large organizations were curbed by the greater appeal of recruitment and upgrade training in various contexts.
Source: Paul Ryan, Howard Gospel and Paul Lewis, 'Large employers and apprenticeship training in Britain', British Journal of Industrial Relations, Volume 45 Issue 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Mar
Researchers examined the impact of information, advice, and guidance (IAG) on adults in work or education, and in particular the relative impact of more in-depth careers support over that of information provision. IAG was generally more effective when experienced as part of an ongoing process, rather than as an isolated event. In-depth support was positively associated with a range of observable learning and career outcomes.
Source: Emma Pollard, Claire Tyers, Siobhan Tuohy and Marc Cowling, Assessing the Net Added Value of Adult Advice and Guidance, Research Report 825A, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Technical paper | Brief | IES summary
Date: 2007-Feb
Researchers studied a sample of adults in the Labour Force Survey between March 2001 and February 2003 who held or gained a vocational level 2 qualification. The most commonly reported motivations for gaining the qualification were to improve work-related skills (62 per cent), to prepare for further study (28 per cent), and to adapt to new technology (22 per cent).
Source: Eileen Goddard and Charley Greenwood, Level 2 National Vocational Qualifications: The characteristics of those who obtain them, and their impact on employment and earnings growth, Research Report 821, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Date: 2007-Jan
A paper reviewed evidence on the role of skills in the labour market, and their impact on productivity. Better diagnostic tools were needed in order to identify those unemployed and inactive people who would benefit from participation in skills training, especially those for whom 'upskilling' was necessary to obtain good quality, sustainable employment.
Source: DFES and DWP: A Shared Evidence Base - The Role of Skills in the Labour Market, Research Report RW91, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260) and Department for Work and Pensions
Links: Paper
Date: 2007-Jan
A think-tank report said that the adult learning system risked widening the gap between the skilled and unskilled. Because those with the lowest skill levels were also the least likely to benefit from education and training, the government's efforts to raise skills levels ran the risk of having limited impact.
Source: Grahame Broadbelt, Kate Oakley and Duncan O'Leary, Confronting the Skills Paradox: Maximising human potential in a 21st century economy, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report | Summary | Demos press release
Date: 2007-Jan