An official capability review said that the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills had made a 'strong start' in its first 18 months of existence.
Source: Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills: Baseline Assessment, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Report | Cabinet Office press release
Date: 2008-Dec
A think-tank report examined the skills gap, and the 'damaging paradox' that those with the least skills were the least likely to train. Reform of the education and training system was important: but insufficient. People faced everyday barriers to training – from busy personal lives to low-skilled jobs – that limited their access to training opportunities. A coherent skills strategy therefore needed to work on three fronts: the labour market, the training system, and people's everyday lives.
Source: Duncan O'Leary and Kate Oakley, The Skills Paradox: Confronting inequality in adult learning, Demos, available from Central Books (020 8986 5488)
Links: Report | Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Dec
A report by a committee of MPs welcomed much of the government's policy in seeking to raise the standards of apprenticeships, including some of the measures contained within the Draft Apprenticeships Bill. But it was not convinced that legislation was strictly necessary to achieve this. It also expressed doubts, in the light of the economic downturn, whether it would be possible to fulfil a statutory duty to make apprenticeship places available for anyone above compulsory school age but under 19.
Source: The Draft Apprenticeships Bill, Fourth Report (Session 2007-08), HC 1082, House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NASUWT press release | BBC report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Dec
The government announced (in the Queen's Speech) plans for a Children, Skills and Learning Bill. The Bill would provide for more flexible school inspections, and a new pay negotiation body for classroom assistants. Schools would be required to work together to tackle bad behaviour, and would be given powers to search pupils for alcohol, drugs, and stolen goods. There would be an apprenticeship place for every suitably qualified young person by 2013. Employees would be given a new right to request relevant training they needed to improve their skills, and to have these requests properly considered by their employer.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Debate 3 December 2008, columns 8-9, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | DCSF press release | DIUS press release | NUT press release | ATL press release | AOC press release | EDCM press release | Catch22 press release | CBI press release | CIPD press release | UCU press release | LGA briefing | Guardian report | BBC report | Telegraph report | Community Care report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Dec
A report by a committee of MPs said that the Draft Apprenticeships Bill had the potential to strengthen the structure for apprenticeships in England. But the Bill needed to be re-written to promote, monitor, and report on the quality of apprenticeships. Without provisions underpinning quality, the legislation risked the devaluation of apprenticeships; and employers, parents, and young people as well as adults would cease to see apprenticeships as a progressive route through to a future career.
Source: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the Draft Apprenticeships Bill, Seventh Report (Session 2007-08), HC 1062, House of Commons Innovation, Universities and Skills Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NASUWT press release | BBC report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Dec
A record number of adults in England gained vocational qualifications in 2007-08. 299,000 adults achieved a full level 2 qualification, compared with 72,800 in 2002-03; and 127,900 adults achieved a full level 3 qualification, up from 67,300 in 2002-03.
Source: Post-16 Education: Learner participation and outcomes in England 2007/08, Statistical First Release 1/2008, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (020 7215 5555)
Links: SFR | DIUS press release
Date: 2008-Dec
A report examined what was meant by 'employability skills'; their importance to learners and employers; and how colleges, work-based learning, and other providers were tackling the issue.
Source: Jill Lanning, Rob Martin and Frank Villeneuve-Smith, Employability Skills Examined, Learning and Skills Network (020 7297 9000)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Dec
A paper examined the impact of lifelong learning on poverty reduction. It investigated whether increasing participation in adult education, and an improvement in skills over more than a decade, had been accompanied by reductions in poverty for the population. The overall conclusion was that participating in adult learning could help substantially to reduce poverty.
Source: Ricardo Sabates, The Impact of Lifelong Learning on Poverty Reduction, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (0116 204 4200)
Links: Paper
Date: 2008-Nov
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that the Train to Gain programme had been successful in giving employees the opportunity to gain nationally recognized qualifications and improving their motivation in the workplace. But employers had been slow to take advantage of funding, while some employees were not always getting the skills development they needed. (Programmes funded by Train to Gain provide training and assessment leading to qualifications in the workplace, particularly at level 2 and in skills for life.)
Source: The Impact of Train to Gain on Skills in Employment, HMI 070250, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (07002 637833)
Links: Report | OFSTED press release | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Nov
A study examined the economic value of basic skills in the labour market. Literacy and numeracy skills were found to have retained their high value in the labour market over the period 1995 to 2004, despite numerous policy attempts to increase the supply of these skills during this period.
Source: Anna Vignoles, Augustin de Coulon and Oscar Marcenaro-Gutierrez, The Value of Basic Skills in the British Labour Market, National Research Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy/Institute of Education (020 7612 6476)
Date: 2008-Oct
A report said that diplomas and apprenticeships would not help reduce the number of young people who dropped out of formal education. The government's focus on qualifications risked disaffecting more young people, because it did not suit those who struggled with formal learning. A more flexible approach was needed, and greater recognition of work-based learning rather than a formal qualifications framework.
Source: Rathbone/Nuffield Review Engaging Youth Enquiry, Nuffield Review of 14-19 Education and Training/Department of Educational Studies/University of Oxford (01865 274037)
Links: Report | Nuffield press release | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Oct
A report (by an official advisory body) examined ways of simplifying the employment and skills system in England. It focused on proposals that would (relatively) quickly provide a much simpler interface between employers and the public skills system, concealing much of the complexity in order to deliver a simpler and much more responsive service to employers.
Source: Simplification of Skills in England: Expert advice to government on simplification of the English post-compulsory skills system for employers, UK Commission for Education and Skills (01709 774 800)
Links: Report | PWC press release
Date: 2008-Oct
The government published a prospectus setting out how the new Adult Advancement and Careers Service would develop. The service, due to be launched in 2010, would provide a one-stop shop for those seeking training and help into work but who also faced problems in areas such as childcare, money matters, housing, and disability issues.
Source: Shaping the Future: A new adult advancement and careers service for England, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (020 7215 5555)
Links: Prospectus | DIUS press release | Speech
Date: 2008-Oct
A report said that expanding apprenticeship schemes would be of little value unless the government stopped interfering with the design and content of apprenticeships, and adopted a more realistic partnership approach with employers and training providers. Apprenticeships in England were a government-led model that had started out with the best of intentions, but had resulted in increasingly narrow education and training provision for young people and adults seeking improvement.
Source: Alison Fuller and Lorna Unwin, Towards Expansive Apprenticeships: A commentary, Teaching and Learning Research Programme/Institute of Education (020 7911 5577)
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Oct
The government announced that the minimum weekly earnings for all apprentices in England would be increased from £80 to £95 per week from August 2009.
Source: Press release 9 September 2008, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (020 7215 5555)
Links: DIUS press release | TUC press release | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Sep
A report presented the findings from a qualitative research study to explore the views of Jobcentre Plus 'customers' about the recommendations of the Leitch review of long-term skills needs, and the strategies that were being planned in response. Some customers found that Jobcentre Plus staff had not offered the advice they needed about benefits or programmes, and others were not offered training to help them to improve their skills.
Source: Carol Goldstone, A 'User Voice' Study: Jobcentre Plus customers' perspective on DWP/DIUS strategy for skills, Research Report 519, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Date: 2008-Aug
An article examined the employment effects of participation in adult literacy and numeracy courses. Employability improvements, but no employment effects, were found. Effects on employment might result in the longer term from an increased likelihood of subsequent training.
Source: Pamela Meadows and Hilary Metcalf, 'Does literacy and numeracy training for adults increase employment and employability? Evidence from the Skills for Life programme in England', Industrial Relations Journal, Volume 39 Issue 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Aug
A think-tank report called for local authorities to be given greater control over adult skills provision. It proposed a new, simplified, and more streamlined skills model, in which the regional tier was rationalized and more funding and control moved from Whitehall to local councils.
Source: Nick Hope, Licence to Skill: Streamlining the skills system by devolving skills to local authorities, New Local Government Network (020 7357 0051)
Links: Report | NLGN press release
Date: 2008-Aug
A trade union report said that all apprentices should be protected by the national minimum wage, in order to end exploitation and reduce the number of people who abandoned their apprenticeships because they could not afford to complete their training.
Source: Minimum Wage Apprentice Exemptions Review, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Aug
A joint statement was agreed by government, trade unions, business, and the third sector, aimed at improving the quality of services delivered under government contracts by raising the skills of employees working on them. Workers would be given an opportunity to develop their basic skills where needed; and would get access to information regarding their working lives, including the benefits of joining a trade union.
Source: Joint Statement on Access to Skills, Trade Unions and Advice in Government Contracting, Cabinet Office (020 7261 8527)
Links: Statement | Hansard | Cabinet Office press release | Personnel Today report | FT report | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jul
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that programme-led apprenticeships produced learners who were better prepared for the workforce, and achieved their full apprenticeship in a shorter time. Nonetheless participation had declined, raising concern that more needed to be done to promote and understand the benefits of the programme. (Programme-led apprenticeships provide an alternative to employer-led apprenticeships for young people who have found it difficult to gain employment, or for those who require an initial period of planned training before taking up employment.)
Source: The Impact of Programme-led Apprenticeships, HMI 070232, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (07002 637833)
Links: Report | OFSTED press release
Date: 2008-Jul
A Draft Apprenticeships Bill was published. The Bill was designed to ensure there were enough apprenticeship places available so that all suitably qualified young people could take up their entitlement of an apprenticeship place from 2013. There would be a national register of apprenticeships, listing government-approved employers that offered the programme. Businesses would be able to advertise for apprenticeship vacancies through a national portal; and applicants would also be able to apply for apprenticeships online, where possible.
Source: Draft Apprenticeships Bill, Cm 7452, Department for Children, Schools and Families/Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Draft Bill | Hansard | DIUS press release | TUC press release | Personnel Today report | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jul
The government published the results of consultation on proposed reforms to education and training for pre-19 and post-19 learners; and set out the next steps in implementing the changes, including the creation of a Skills Funding Agency and Young People's Learning Agency.
Source: Raising Expectations: Enabling the System to Deliver – Update and Next Steps, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (020 7215 5555)
Links: Report | DIUS press release
Date: 2008-Jul
A report said that over 3,250,000 vocational qualifications were awarded in 2007 – a rise of 8.3 per cent on the previous year, and a 117 per cent rise on the numbers awarded five years previously.
Source: The VQ Landscape 2008: A review of vocational qualification achievements in the UK, Edge Foundation (020 7734 6434)
Links: Report | Edge press release | BBC report | Personnel Today report | TES report
Date: 2008-Jul
The opposition Conservative Party set out a plan to expand the provision of apprenticeships by 100,000 places. £775 million would be set aside to support apprentices of all ages, including a scheme that would offer employers £2,000 to take on and train apprentices.
Source: Building Skills, Transforming Lives: A training and apprenticeships revolution, Conservative Party (020 7222 9000)
Links: Report | Conservative Party press release | NIACE press release | NCH press release | FT report | Personnel Today report | BBC report | Guardian report | TES report
Date: 2008-Jul
A report said that a radical overhaul of employment and skills policy was needed to help the 7 million people who were economically inactive gain the skills they needed to 'break the hold of benefit dependency'. It called for greater local control and funding, and a move away from 'centralized bureaucratic structures'.
Source: The Integration Gap: Developing a devolved welfare and skills system, Local Government Association (020 7664 3000)
Links: Report | LGA press release
Date: 2008-Jun
A think-tank report said that a climate of hostility towards immigration risked harming the ability of United Kingdom companies to attract skilled, talented people from abroad.
Source: Katerina Rudiger, Towards a Global Labour Market? Globalisation and the knowledge economy, Work Foundation (0870 165 6700)
Date: 2008-Jun
An audit report said that the government's strategy to improve basic literacy and numeracy skills had helped over 5.7 million adults achieve a qualification or other specified learning aim, at a cost of £5 billion. Targets for the number of adults reaching basic literacy and numeracy standards (750,000 by 2004 and 1.5 million by 2007) had been exceeded, and the government was also on course to meet the 2010 target of improving the basic skills of 2.25 million adults.
Source: Skills for Life: Progress in improving adult literacy and numeracy, HC 482 (Session 2007-08), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | NAO press release | BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Jun
An article examined empirical studies reporting that the 'advantage' in training incidence previously enjoyed by men had been reversed. The greater part of the gender 'gap' in training was found to derive from differences in occupation, industry, and sector. However, the increased training incidence among females over time was not explained by changes in characteristics, and suggested preferences for training might have changed.
Source: Melanie Jones, Paul Latreille and Peter Sloane, 'Crossing the tracks? Trends in the training of male and female workers in Great Britain', British Journal of Industrial Relations, Volume 46 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jun
A new book examined policy and practice regarding the education, training, and employment of new migrants over the age of 16; and showed how policy affected their access to appropriate services.
Source: Jenny Phillimore, Lisa Goodson and Jane Watts, New Migrants in the UK: Education, training and employment, Trentham Books (01782 745567)
Links: Summary
Date: 2008-May
Two linked reports evaluated the 'Train to Gain' service (designed to provide impartial, independent advice on training through a network of skills brokers). Satisfaction with the training received through the service was high, with 77 per cent of learners either extremely or very satisfied with their experience. Satisfaction was significantly higher among those who had received a pre-training assessment.
Source: Train to Gain Employer Evaluation: Sweep 1 research report, Learning and Skills Council (0870 900 6800) | Train to Gain Learner Evaluation: Report from wave 1 research, Learning and Skills Council
Links: Report (1) | Report (2)
Date: 2008-May
The results were published of the National Employer Skills Survey 2007. Companies had spent a record £38.6 billion on training, up 16 per cent from 2005 – an increase in real terms of £3.5 billion after inflation. The proportion of vacancies that could not be filled due to a skills shortage had dropped from 25 per cent in 2005 to 21 per cent in 2007.
Source: National Employers Skills Survey 2007: Main Report, Learning and Skills Council (0870 900 6800)
Links: Report | Summary | LSC press release | CBI press release
Date: 2008-May
The government announced (in the draft Queen's Speech) plans to introduce an Education and Skills Bill during the 2008-09 legislative session, designed to promote excellence in schools and help ensure that every school became a good school; ensure a 'customer-driven' skills and apprenticeship system; and create a new regulator for qualifications and tests, and a development agency for curriculum, assessment, and qualifications. Central government would acquire new powers to force local authorities to intervene early where schools were seriously underperforming. The UK Commission for Employment and Skills would report on whether a statutory entitlement to training should be introduced in 2014-15, instead of 2010 as previously planned.
Source: Preparing Britain for the Future: The government's draft legislative programme, Cm 7372, Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Draft Queens Speech | Amendments | DIUS press release | NUT press release | NASUWT press release | UCU press release | NCH press release | CBI press release | CIPD press release | REC press release | Guardian report | BBC report (1) | BBC report (2) | Community Care report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-May
An article examined the part played by the Trades Union Congress in public policy since 1997, focusing on its attempts to develop social partnership and statutory backing for vocational training. A public administration role focused on the Union Learning Fund had provided the TUC with a new, secondary function, which provided some compensation for the failure of its primary agenda: nonetheless, on the evidence, involvement in workplace learning appeared an implausible path to union revitalization.
Source: John McIlroy, 'Ten years of New Labour: workplace learning, social partnership and union revitalization in Britain', British Journal of Industrial Relations, Volume 46 Issue 2
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-May
The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills published its annual report for 2007-08.
Source: Departmental Report 2008, Cm 7392, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-May
A report examined the factors defining 'employability skills', and how employers perceived the existing level of skills of young people entering their first job. It also examined employer expectations of skills development and their views on the funding of it.
Source: Rob Martin, Frank Villeneuve-Smith, Liz Marshall and Ewan McKenzie, Employability Skills Explored, Learning and Skills Network (020 7297 9000)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Apr
A survey found that 40 per cent of employers worried about their employees' basic skills. One-fifth of the adult workforce lacked the literacy or numeracy skills expected of a child aged 11.
Source: Taking Stock: CBI education and skills survey 2008, Confederation of British Industry (020 7395 8247)
Links: Report (zip file) | CBI press release | TUC press release | REC press release | Liberal Democrats press release | Guardian report | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Apr
A report examined what kind of learning was needed to overcome poverty and social exclusion. Political and leadership skills were key to achieving the twin objectives of the government's skills strategy – economic success and social justice. Vocational training which did not address the deeper causes of social inequality was bound to exclude the most disadvantaged in society.
Source: Titus Alexander, Learning Power: A contribution to the national skills strategy, Scarman Trust (020 689 6366)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Mar
A trade union report said that although more apprenticeship places had opened up for women in general, this had not happened in better paid male-dominated sectors such as engineering and construction.
Source: Still More (Better Paid) Jobs for the Boys: Apprenticeships and gender segregation, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release | UNISON press release | Personnel Today report
Date: 2008-Mar
A pilot scheme in Scotland, which involved developing new qualifications to give pupils skills for life and for the workplace, was found to have been well received by schools, colleges, teachers, and pupils; and to have raised the status of vocational learning.
Source: Thomas Spielhofer and Matthew Walker, Evaluation of Skills for Work Pilot Courses: Final Report, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Report | Summary | SG press release
Date: 2008-Mar
Researchers examined the experiences and circumstances that lay behind poor basic skills in adulthood, and their consequences for life chances and adult functioning.
Source: Samantha Parsons and John Bynner, Illuminating Disadvantage: Profiling the experiences of adults with entry level literacy or numeracy over the lifecourse, National Research Centre for Adult Literacy and Numeracy/Institute of Education (020 7612 6476)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Feb
A report examined the relevance of 'Equal' (a European Union programme to test new ways of helping the most disadvantaged people find and keep jobs) to the existing welfare and skills reform debates. It focused on employment and skills issues.
Source: Innovation in Employment and Skills: Lessons from Equal for welfare and skills reform, Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion (020 7582 7221)
Links: Links removed by CESI
Date: 2008-Feb
The Welsh Assembly Government began consultation on a strategy to raise skills levels and increase the economic activity rate in Wales.
Source: Skills That Work For Wales: A skills and employment strategy, Welsh Assembly Government (029 2082 5111)
Links: Consultation document | Consultation document (Welsh) | Summary | Summary (Welsh) | REC press release
Date: 2008-Jan
Two linked papers said that although the government had high expectations of apprenticeships, such programmes presented only 'limited prospects for growth'.
Source: Geoff Hayward, Alis Oancea and Stephanie Wilde, Apprenticeship I: Prospects for Growth, Nuffield Foundation (020 7631 0566) | Geoff Hayward, Alis Oancea and Stephanie Wilde, Apprenticeship II: A High-quality Pathway for Young People?, Nuffield Foundation
Links: Paper (1) | Paper (2) | Nuffield Foundation press release | FT report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Jan
The government announced plans to expand and strengthen apprenticeships in England. It set out how the expansion would be delivered, how the quality of apprenticeships would be improved, and how better support would be offered to employers providing high-quality apprenticeship places. The objective was to make apprenticeships a mainstream option for young people aged 16-18, alongside other education and training routes, and to ensure that an apprenticeship place was available for all qualified young people by 2013.
Source: World-class Apprenticeships: Unlocking Talent, Building Skills for All – The government's strategy for the future of apprenticeships in England, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (020 7215 5555)
Links: Report | Hansard | DIUS press release | ALP press release | TUC press release | UCU press release | CBI press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jan
A review examined the impact of employer engagement in course development on employers and students. There were benefits to employer engagement: but there were also barriers. Smaller organizations were less likely than larger ones to engage with higher education. However, there was a need for more rigorous studies to shed further light on the impact of employer engagement.
Source: Anna Scesa and Ruth Williams with Brenda Little, William Locke and Winnie Tang, Engagement in Course Development by Employers not Traditionally Involved in Higher Education: Student and employer perceptions of its impact, EPPI-Centre/Social Science Research Unit/Institute of Education/University of London (020 7612 6050)
Date: 2008-Jan
A report examined the government's employer-engagement policy for higher education. The HE sector needed to do its business of teaching and learning 'significantly differently' if it were to achieve the step-change in the delivery of higher education to the workforce that was recommended in the Leitch Report.
Source: Marilyn Wedgwood, Higher Education for the Workforce: Barriers and facilitators to employer engagement, Research Report 08-04 Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (020 7215 5555)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jan
A study examined whether large national employers preferred to recruit 'ready-made' staff externally or to train 'in-house'. Most felt that in-house training was generally better than public sector-funded training, for a mixture of positive and negative reasons. However, some felt public sector-funded training was especially good for specific areas (for example, apprenticeships, and information technology training) and, where preferred, this was because it offered nationally recognized qualifications.
Source: Peter Bates, Jonny Gifford and Claire Johnson, Recruitment and Training Among Large National Employers, Learning and Skills Council (0870 900 6800)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Jan
A trade union report said that the government should increase the minimum pay rate for apprentices from £80 to £110 per week, to improve the quality of training and tackle apprenticeship drop-out rates.
Source: Decent Pay for Apprentices, Trades Union Congress (020 7467 1294)
Links: Report | TUC press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jan
The government announced plans to build a new 'employment and skills partnership' with employers. Employers would drive strategic change in the employment and skills infrastructure, to make sure that it provided simplified support and delivered the skills they needed. Simplified and demand-led government support would help employers to recruit and train staff in a way that met their needs. Firms would be awarded recognition for their own successful in-house training programmes through a new accreditation scheme – one of the first to be given accreditation was McDonald's, the fast-food multinational. The government promised an 'effective and growing market' for welfare-to-work services, together with a big increase in apprenticeships.
Source: Ready to Work, Skilled for Work: Unlocking Britain's Talent, Cm 7316, Department for Work and Pensions, TSO (0870 600 5522) and Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
Links: Report | Hansard | Speech | DIUS press release | PCS press release | UCU press release | FT report | Community Care report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Jan