A report contained interim findings from the evaluation of the basic skills national enhancements and the mandatory training pilots, which started in April 2004. National changes to the basic skills process had bedded in well, and Jobcentre Plus personal advisers were confident about discussing mandatory training and sanctions with claimants.
Source: Lucy Joyce, Jane Durham, Matthew Williams and Clarissa White, Evaluation of Basic Skills Mandatory Training Pilot and National Enhancements: Interim report, Research Report 307, CDS/Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report | Summary | DWP press release
Date: 2005-Dec
A research report said that Employer Training Pilots (offering free or subsidized training leading to a basic skills or first level 2 qualification) had had a small positive effect on the incidence of training among eligible employers.
Source: Laura Abramovsky, Erich Battistin, Emla Fitzsimons, Alissa Goodman and Helen Simpson, The Impact of the Employer Training Pilots on the Take-up of Training Among Employers and Employees, Research Report 694, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Dec
An interim official report said that the skills profile in the United Kingdom had improved because of an excellent higher education system, reforms to vocational training, and an increasingly effective schools system. But over a third of adults of working age still did not have a basic school-leaving qualification; 5 million adults had no qualifications at all; and one in six adults did not have the literacy skills expected at age 11.
Source: Skills in the UK: The long-term challenge - Interim report, Leitch Review of Skills/HM Treasury (020 7270 4674)
Links: Report | Annex | Summary | HMT press release | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Dec
A research report said that Employer Training Pilots (offering free or subsidized training leading to a basic skills or first level 2 qualification) had gone a long way towards meeting the objectives of the skills strategy. The most serious concern was that the basic skills agenda was not being met, with learners literacy, numeracy, and language skills not always being assessed on entry.
Source: Colin Ashton et al., ALI Employer Training Pilot Survey, Research Report 695, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report | Brief | Guardian report
Date: 2005-Dec
A report said that learning brokers could increase demand, participation, and success among non-traditional adult learners; and could also influence colleges and training organizations to make what they offered more accessible and engaging. (Brokers act as 'matchmakers' between individuals and organizations providing education or training.)
Source: Martin Yarnit, Darshan Sachdev and Rosie Zwart, Understanding Learning Brokerage, Learning and Skills Development Agency (020 7297 9144)
Links: Report | LSDA press release
Date: 2005-Dec
An audit report said that more employers in England needed to be persuaded of the value to their businesses of employment-related education and skills training.
Source: Employers Perspectives on Improving Skills for Employment, HC 461 (Session 2005-06), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | BCC press release
Date: 2005-Dec
A report by a committee of MPs said that the Jobskills programme in Northern Ireland was one of the worst-run programmes that it had examined. It noted a "quite astonishing catalogue" of failures and control weaknesses. (Jobskills provides an alternative route to qualifications, through the attainment of National Vocational Qualifications, focusing on people for whom an academic education was considered inappropriate.)
Source: Jobskills, Tenth Report (Session 2005-06), HC 564, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2005-Nov
A trade union report said that an urgent overhaul of training was needed to address the serious skills gaps crippling many parts of the economy. A third of businesses did not offer any training to their staff.
Source: Training, Who Gets It?: An analysis of the training divide at work, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release
Date: 2005-Nov
A report said that employees with poor basic skills and few qualifications were the least likely to take part in learning activities at work, despite having the greatest needs.
Source: Peter Bates, Will Hunt and Jim Hillage, Learning at Work: Strategies for widening adult participation in learning below Level 2 via the workplace, Learning and Skills Development Agency (020 7297 9144)
Links: Report | LSDA press release
Date: 2005-Nov
An audit report said that Ufi (established in 1998 to deliver learning in new ways and help address the skills gap in the workforce) had done a good job establishing the learndirect service in a relatively short period, and had pushed the boundaries of learning methods.
Source: Extending Access to Learning through Technology: Ufi and the learndirect service, HC 460 (Session 2005-06), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release
Date: 2005-Nov
A report examined the evidence relating to training by age among people who were unemployed or economically inactive. The same range of barriers to training (and work) affected each group in the unemployed and inactive community; however, the strength and impact of these varied between groups.
Source: Becci Newton, Jennifer Hurstfield, Linda Miller, Karen Akroyd and Jonny Gifford, Training Participation by Age amongst Unemployed and Inactive People, Research Report 291, CDS/Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2005-Nov
A report set out the findings of a scoping study into initiatives, methods and approaches designed to encourage wider adult participation in learning via the workplace below 'level 2'.
Source: Peter Bates, Will Hunt and Jim Hillage, Learning at Work: Strategies for widening adult participation in learning below Level 2 via the workplace, Learning and Skills Development Agency (020 7297 9144)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Oct
A report said that apprentices on government-approved schemes were taking home over 500 a month on average. But there was a 40 per week average pay gap between male and female apprentices.
Source: Anna Ullman and Gemma Deakin, Apprenticeship Pay: A survey of earnings by sector, Research Report 674, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf) | DfES press release
Date: 2005-Oct
A report highlighted the need for learning and skills providers to address issues of inclusive practices more vigorously - such as gender segregation, and the needs of adults and young people with disabilities or learning difficulties.
Source: Vikki Smith and Anne Armstrong, Beyond Prejudice: Inclusive learning in practice, Learning and Skills Development Agency (020 7297 9144)
Links: Report (pdf) | LSDA press release (Word file)
Date: 2005-Sep
A report examined the available evidence for a link between higher skills and higher productivity at the company level.
Source: Fernando Galindo-Rueda and Jonathan Haskel, Skills, Workforce Characteristics and Firm-level Productivity in England, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Sep
A literature review examined the links between skills and innovation as drivers of improved productivity.
Source: Bruce Tether, Andrea Mina, Davide Consoli and Dimitri Gagliardi, How Does Successful Innovation Impact on the Demand for Skills and How Do Skills Drive Innovation?, Department of Trade and Industry (0870 150 2500)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Sep
A report said that employers who were ignoring the training and skills needs of their staff could pose a long-term threat to the economy.
Source: IFF Research Ltd, Skills for Business 2004:: Survey of employers, Sector Skills Development Agency (01709 765444)
Links: Report (pdf) | SSDA press release
Date: 2005-Sep
A working paper said that work-related training was associated with significantly higher productivity.
Source: Lorraine Dearden, Howard Reed and John Van Reenen, The Impact of Training on Productivity and Wages: Evidence from British panel data, Working Paper W05/16, Institute for Fiscal Studies (020 7291 4800)
Links: Paper (pdf) | Abstract
Date: 2005-Aug
Researchers sought to establish providers? views on what did or did not work well in establishing effective relationships with employers and meeting their needs, and to identify good practice.
Source: Andrew McCoshan, Mary Costello and Manuel Souto Otero, Work-Based Learning Providers? Views on their Links with Employers, Research Report RW35, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2005-Jun
A report presented findings from a study of gender segregation in apprenticeships in England. The majority of employers (70 per cent) agreed that recruiting more young people of the non-traditional sex into their sectors would help solve skills shortages.
Source: Alison Fuller, Vanessa Beck and Lorna Unwin, Employers, Young People and Gender Segregation (England), Working Paper 28, Equal Opportunities Commission (0161 833 9244)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2005-Jun
A research report examined ways in which employers were tackling skills shortages in their organizations.
Source: Jake Reynolds, From Training to Learning, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (020 8971 9000)
Links: Summary | CIPD press release
Date: 2005-Apr
The government published a White Paper setting out the next phase of reforms to tackle skills shortages. A new national employer training programme would deliver free, flexible training for vocational qualifications to the equivalent of 5 good GCSEs. There would be new pilots to support vocational training at technician, craft, and associate professional level skills. Skills academies would focus on the needs of each major sector of the economy, and help raise the status and value of vocational education and training.
Source: Skills: Getting on in business, getting on at work, White Paper Cm 6483, Department for Education and Skills, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 22 March 2005, columns 731-742, TSO
Links: White Paper (pdf) | Hansard | DfES press release | TUC press release | CESI press release | BCC press release | CIPD press release
Date: 2005-Mar
A report said that institutional infrastructures were emerging which would allow a move from a low-skills/low-technology equilibrium to a high-skills/high-technology economy.
Source: Will Hutton et al., Where Are the Gaps?: An analysis of UK skills and education strategy in the light of the Kok Group and European Commission midterm review of the Lisbon goals, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary
Date: 2005-Mar
A report said that organizations should provide more training support to lower-skilled workers.
Source: Alison Wolf, Basic Skills in the Workplace: Opening doors to learning, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (020 8971 9000)
Links: Report (pdf) | CIPD press release
Date: 2005-Mar
A report by a committee of MPs said that educators and employers did not work together effectively enough in developing the skills of young people. It was 'unacceptable' that young people could leave school at age 16 and go into employment without any guarantee that they would receive education or training in the period until age 18. Another major problem was that for those pupils who found study for GCSEs and A levels uninteresting or unmanageable, there was no obvious alternative. (GCSE = General Certificate of Secondary Education; A = Advanced)
Source: National Skills Strategy: 14-19 Education, Sixth Report (Session 2004-05), HC 37, House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2005-Mar
The Equal Opportunities Commission in Scotland called for the Scottish Executive to take urgent action to tackle sex segregation in the modern apprenticeship programme.
Source: Emily Thomson, Ailsa McKay, Jim Campbell and Morag Gillespie, Jobs for the Boys and the Girls: Promoting a smart successful and equal Scotland, Equal Opportunities Commission Scotland (0845 601 5904)
Links: Report (pdf) | EOC press release
Date: 2005-Feb
The Welsh Assembly Government published a new programme of action for improving skills, designed to achieve a high-skill, high-employment economy in which all individuals fulfilled their potential.
Source: Skills and Employment Action Plan for Wales 2005, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Report (pdf) | WAG press release
Date: 2005-Jan