Memorandum submitted by David Lammy MP,
Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills
I said that I would write to you on a number
of issues arising during my evidence session on 9 October. I should
also like to take this opportunity to clarify some points raised
during the evidence session. These follow below and references
to the question number in the official transcript are given for
ease of reference.
SECTOR PATHWAYS
AND SECTOR
SKILLS COUNCILS
Q 177/179. Number of Sector Pathway Projects:
Nine Sector Skills Councils are taking forward Women and Work
Sector Pathway projects. These are: Asset Skills, Automotive Skills,
Construction Skills, Energy & Utility Skills, Improve, Lantra,
Semta, Skillfast UK, Skills for Logistics.
Q 178. Matched Funding: Of the £10
million government funding allocated to Women and Work Sector
Pathways Initiative for the two year period, £8.1 million
has been committed, matched by employer investment of £9.4
million. This is a split of 46% government funding, 54% employer
investment.
Of the £9.4 million employer investment,
£6.1 million (65%) is cash investment. For each output on
average employers are contributing £875 in cash.
Q 180. Automotive Skills: Automotive
Skills is the Sector Skills Council for the retail motor industry
and covers a range of activities including maintenance repair
and new and used car sales. Only 25% of its business is based
on technical areas. The SSC covers the following sub-activities:
New vehicle sales; used vehicle sales; routine maintenance &
repair; MOT inspections; accident/body repair; restoration/rebuilding;
fast fit (tyres, exhausts, batteries, etc); post factory fitting
and accessories sales; roadside rescue/recovery; contract hire/operational
leasing; "daily" rental; and valeting/preparation.
The Automotive Sector Pathways Initiative is
targeting the remaining 75% by focusing on the retail side of
the Automotive Sector. Evidence from the National Employer survey
2005 showed that the automotive retail sector as a whole has a
significant under representation from women and from women in
management roles.
The project will:
— offer opportunities to women new
to the sector to develop the relevant skills they will need to
operate in the sector;
— develop opportunities for women already
employed in the sector to enhance their current skills, gain opportunities
for promotion into supervisory and managerial roles and/or other
positive benefits related to their employment; and
— put in place support structures designed
to ensure the retention of women in the industry.
The project original targets were to:
— upskill 200 women within the industry
who undertake roles dealing with customer service both internally
and externally, to develop the skills and knowledge they need
to undertake and excel in their current roles as well as progress
within the industry;
— support 150 women to acquire and
develop skills leading to effective Supervisory and/or Management
through a development programme linked to their own specific needs;
and
— recruit 150 women new recruits into
the automotive industry to gain the skills and knowledge needed
to operate successfully and progress.
This project is doing well. To date 190 women
have signed an Individual Training Plan, exceeding the profiled
target by 40 (27% on profile).
The project manager has the full backing of
her new Chief Executive, Sarah Sillars, who has personally promoted
the project since assuming this role earlier this year. As a result
they are now engaged with employers such as Hartwells, BMW, Honda,
Autoglass and Landrover Jaguar to name but a few. Each of these
employers is delivering on a firm commitment to the project and
looking to increase the number of women benefiting from this project
by 500. Some of these employers have also dedicated their own
resource to manage the internal process and support women in their
employment.
Q 184. Government Skills: Government
Skills did not put in an expression of interest to take part in
this Initiative. As the last SSC to be licensed, it may have been
that they were not at the stage in their Sector Skills Agreement
to do so. However, the Sector Pathways Initiative is about re-balancing
gender representation, and Civil Service statistics show that
54% of the workforce is female.
APPRENTICESHIPS
Q 153-160. Clarification and numbers on adult
apprenticeships: The LSC is funding up to 8,000 adult apprenticeships
at a cost of £16.7 million in 2007-08 for priority groups
including women or people from ethnic minorities seeking to enter
an atypical career, and adults working in sectors identified as
local or regional skills priorities.
The LSC roll out of apprenticeships for adults
is being designed to address diversity issues, with three priority
groups:
— those without employment; including
those on incapacity benefit, who are seeking to train or retrain
in order to enter long term employment;
— individuals who are seeking to enter
an atypical career ie women and/or ethnic minorities; and
— adults working within sectors that
have been identified as local, regional or national priorities,
who have existing skills or knowledge gaps and who lack formal
qualifications for those skills, including those who wish to complete
an apprenticeship having achieved their NVQ 2 or 3 through Train
to Gain.
Q 169-170. Sector breakdown of apprenticeship
completions by sector and gender:
The table below reproduces figures from the
sector breakdown of apprenticeship completions by sector for 2006-07.
[15]These
figures show separate success rate figures for Advanced Apprenticeships
(level 3) and Apprenticeships (level 2).
APPRENTICESHIP SUCCESS RATES BY AREA OF LEARNING,
GENDER AND PROGRAMME TYPE, 2006-07
Combining LSC level 2 and level 3 Apprenticeship
data indicates that the total overall Apprenticeship success rate
is 63% (with no difference between female and male learners).
Combining LSC level 2 and level 3 Apprenticeship
data also indicates the following success rates for a selection
of sectors, including the typically male-dominated Construction
and Engineering and typically female-dominated Health and Care
sectors.
APPRENTICESHIP SUCCESS RATES BY AREA OF LEARNING,
GENDER AND PROGRAMME TYPE, 2006-07
Q 174 and 176. Ofsted good practice:
There has been some informal dialogue between
Ofsted and the Women and Equalities Unit about case studies. We
are now exploring with Ofsted how to extend this into a more formal
analysis.
Finally, I am enclosing a copy of the DfES Skills
Strategy Equality Impact Assessment and its Statistical Supplement
for information.
22 October 2007
15 This is published by the LSC via http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/lsc/National/nat-wblsuccessrates-da-P1to12-200607-v1.xls). Back
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