Appendix 1
Government's response to the Fourth Report from
the Children, Schools and Families Committee, Session 2007-08
Introduction
The Government welcomes the pre-legislative report
by the House of Commons Select Committee on Children, Schools
and Families into the draft Apprenticeships Bill, the provisions
of which are now included in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children
and Learning (ASCL) Bill. We would like to thank the chairman,
Barry Sheerman MP, and his colleagues for their considered and
detailed recommendations.
The Committee supports the broad thrust of Government
policy with respect to apprenticeships and securing the UK skills
base in future years. However, it also offers thoughtful and constructive
comments on areas where further improvements could be made.
We turn now to the report's recommendations. The
Select Committee's recommendations are in bold text. The Government's
response is in plain text.
Recommendation 1
We encourage the Government to continue to publish
legislation in draft in order to allow early Parliamentary scrutiny
as well as greater public engagement with the lawmaking process.
In the case of the forthcoming bill on education and skills, we
encourage the Government to publish for pre-legislative scrutiny
clauses relating to the promotion of excellence in schools and
the achievement of the objective that every school becomes a good
school. (Paragraph 2)
RESPONSE
We agree that the process of pre-legislative scrutiny
adds significant value in the law making process. The fact that
the draft apprenticeships provisions were developed at an earlier
stage of the legislative cycle meant that it was possible to submit
the draft clauses for pre-legislative scrutiny. Other elements
of the Bill were drafted later and this did not leave time for
pre-legislative scrutiny prior to introduction on 4 February 2009.
We will continue to look for the opportunity to put
future education legislation through the pre-legislative scrutiny
process.
Recommendation 2
We urge the Government to investigate further
the reasons for entrenched inequalities in the apprenticeship
system and to take specific, targeted action on the basis of a
sophisticated system of monitoring participation. (Paragraph 11)
RESPONSE
The Apprenticeships Review of 2007-08 included an
equality impact assessment which found that:
- There was no single trend across
all sectors suggesting a consistent disparity between the numbers
of disabled employees and the numbers of apprentices with a disability.
- The percentage of ethnic minorities undertaking
apprenticeships is significantly lower than the percentage of
ethnic minorities in employment. This is consistent across all
sectors, with the exception of sport.
- Although women comprise almost 50% of all apprenticeships
the 2005 Apprenticeship survey found that there was a 40% average
pay differential between male and female apprenticeships.
The proportion of those with disabilities or learning
difficulties starting apprenticeships has been around 11% for
the last three years and, encouragingly, the proportion of all
completions that comprise those with disabilities has risen from
almost 8.5% in 2004-05 to 10.5% in 2006-07.
We do agree more needs to be done to tackle inequalities
in the apprenticeship system. That is why World-class Apprenticeships
featured an analysis of inequalities in the apprenticeship system.
The recommendations from World Class Apprenticeships are
being taken forward through our National Apprenticeship Service
Delivery Plan.
Recommendation 3
We record at the outset the general enthusiasm
in evidence for apprenticeships in principle and for the Draft
Bill in seeking to raise the status and standards of apprenticeships.
(Paragraph 14)
RESPONSE
We thank the Committee for its comments. The Government
acknowledges the widespread support for apprenticeships and the
key role that they play in enhancing the UK's skills base.
The ASCL Bill provides for what is the first complete
overhaul of legislation on apprenticeships in 200 years, placing
them on a statutory footing for the first time and, alongside
Diplomas, represents a major long-term improvement in the opportunities
available to young learners
Recommendation 4
We question whether it is a good use of Parliamentary
time to consider "symbolic" legislation. (Paragraph
19)
RESPONSE
We do not agree that this legislation is just 'symbolic',
rather it represents a significant contribution to the development
of a long-term skills base to meet the challenges of the 21st
century and the demands on the UK in a global economy. Importantly
through the Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Bill
we will create the apprenticeship scheme and give an entitlement
to an apprenticeship place for every suitably qualified young
person who wants one.
Recommendation 5
We believe that there cannot be an automatic right
to progress from one form of learning at one level of qualification
to another form at a higher qualification, although we would expect
the Government and providers to make this as easy as possible.
(Paragraph 29)
RESPONSE
We agree with the Committee that encouraging young
people to build on existing achievement is vital if the Government's
aim to increase participation in education/training to the age
of 18 is to be realised.
For many young people progressing to an apprenticeship
at the next level above their existing achievements will be an
important aspiration. We want to ensure that for these young people
the route to a higher qualification is clearly set out and that
the support they need is in place.
Recommendation 6
Unless the Government can justify denying a young
person an entitlement to an apprenticeship at the same level as
that of a qualification which they already hold, the Government
should redraft clause 21 of the Draft Bill to remove any potential
block to access. (Paragraph 30)
RESPONSE
We accept the Committee's recommendation and have
acted on it accordingly in the ASCL Bill.
Recommendation 7
We acknowledge that to introduce an entitlement
to a Young Apprenticeship for any 14 to 16-year-old who wanted
one would not be legislatively simple: it could require a definition
in statute of the characteristics of a Young Apprenticeship and
of the standards which each placement should meet. We suspect
that to introduce such an entitlement would be difficult. Nevertheless
we agree that the Young Apprenticeship scheme is a valuable one
and should be encouraged and well resourced, independently of
Diplomas. (Paragraph 34)
RESPONSE
We agree with the Committee that the Young Apprenticeship
programme provides a valuable opportunity for young people. The
Young Apprenticeship programme is for 14-16-year-olds still at
school and studying the National Curriculum, including GCSEs.
The Young Apprenticeships programme is a pilot scheme and has
operated in only selected areas of the country to date. We are
piloting Young Apprenticeship programme allocations for 2009 on
a more equitable distribution to local authorities to take account
of 14-16 numbers. The programme is being incorporated within the
new Diploma Frameworks.
The entitlement to an apprenticeship place for every
suitably qualified 16-18-year-old is to enable them to have a
place available to fulfil the RPA duties. There is a similar
entitlement to Diplomas for this age group.
We do not therefore believe that there is a need
to extend an entitlement to a young apprenticeship to the 14-16
age group.
Recommendation 8
Despite the greater stringency of the requirements
placed upon schools by the Education and Skills Bill shortly to
complete its passage through Parliament, we nonetheless believe
that any approach which leaves discretion to schools-based careers
advisers as to what would be in a particular young person's best
interests is an unnecessarily risky one. In the short term, the
effects of the obligations on schools imposed by legislation now
before Parliament should be assessed; but we fear that the issue
may need to be revisited if experience shows that they do not
have the necessary traction. We believe that legislation should
be made stronger, by requiring schools to include clear and comprehensive
information about apprenticeships in the materials made available
to learners. (Paragraph 39)
RESPONSE
We note the Committee's recommendation to strengthen
still further the current requirement upon schools to provide
advice in the best interests of the student. We will retain the
clause in the ASCL Bill requiring schools to consider whether
it is in the best interests of every pupil to receive advice on
apprenticeships, as this makes clear the importance that the Government
places on schools providing high quality and impartial information
and advice about apprenticeships. However, we consider that further
legislative strengthening is unnecessary. The Committee commented
that the Education and Skills Act (2008) requires schools to provide
careers education that is impartial and in the best interests
of the student. This requirement has been underpinned by provision
within the Act to issue statutory guidance to which schools must
have regard, especially as adherence to statutory guidance is
subject to Ofsted inspection.
We will shortly be consulting on the statutory guidance—which
will be issued later this year, and it will include principles
of impartial careers education that will set out clearly our expectations
of schools regarding information and advice on all of the four
major post-16 learning routes, including apprenticeships.
We think that this will provide an effective means
of ensuring that schools provide impartial information and advice.
Recommendation 9
We urge the Government to assess the scope for
amending the Draft Bill to provide comfort to employers presently
reluctant to take on young people as Young Apprentices or as Apprentices
because of health and safety considerations. (Paragraph 46)
RESPONSE
We recognise the Committee's concerns and have considered
carefully the potential to implement the Committee's recommendation.
There are legitimate reasons for the legislation which is in place
but we acknowledge there are also widespread misconceptions on
the part of employers about perceived health and safety barriers
to employing apprentices. We will work closely with the National
Apprenticeship Service to address those misconceptions and remove
any ambiguity around this issue. However, we have concluded that
it would not be appropriate to exclude apprentices from health
and safety legislation applicable to their particular age group
or sector.
Recommendation 10
We have grave doubts about whether a statutory
duty on the Learning and Skills Council (and in due course the
National Apprenticeship Service) to secure sufficient apprenticeship
placements can be met, or met without compromising on quality.
(Paragraph 47)
RESPONSE
We do not believe the entitlement will lead to compromises
on the quality of provision. The entitlement to an apprenticeship
place for suitably qualified young people is designed to ensure
that there are sufficient places available for those young people
who want to fulfil the duty to participate in education and training,
under the Education and Skills Act (2008), through an apprenticeship.
The implementation of apprenticeship policy and the delivery of
the expansion of the Apprenticeship programme will be the responsibility
of the NAS which will be fully operational from April 2009. Working
with Local Authorities and the brokerage services, the NAS will
include regional teams responsible for boosting employer engagement
and securing sufficient places to meet the entitlement. We will
publish a statement setting out how the scheme will operate in
practice at the Committee stage of the Bill.
Recommendation 11
We strongly welcome the Government's intention,
articulated in the World-class Apprenticeships strategy review
paper and reiterated by Ministers in evidence, to take steps to
ensure that the public sector offers more apprenticeship placements;
and we recommend that this should be monitored and reported on.
(Paragraph 48)
RESPONSE
The Government is committed to expanding Apprenticeships
in the public sector; and to ensure that public sector participation
catches up with that of the private sector. The Prime Minister
announced in January a £140m package to fund 35,000 more
Apprenticeships in both the public and private sectors over the
next year in addition to the over £1billion committed for
Apprenticeships for 2009-10. We believe that there are significant
opportunities to drive rapid engagement within the public sector
and in particular from the three largest workforces in the public
sector—education, health and local government. Ministers
are putting in place arrangements to monitor and oversee progress
towards achieving the Government's ambition.
Recommendation 12
We believe that there is significant potential
for public sector organisations to use existing posts to provide
apprenticeship placements, provided that they meet the necessary
framework standards. (Paragraph 48)
RESPONSE
We agree with the Committee's recommendation. However,
this is rightly a matter for each organisation's human resource
strategy and will depend on existing labour force skill levels
and recruitment patterns. DIUS and DCSF policy has been to recruit
as many people into apprentice positions as possible but we are
committed to offering the opportunity of an apprenticeship to
existing staff where there is a requirement. All apprenticeships
irrespective of prior employment status are required to meet the
relevant framework standards and are subject to the same high
levels of quality assurance through Ofsted inspection, the framework
for excellence and performance management arrangements.
Recommendation 13
We strongly support the concept of group apprenticeship
schemes, and we believe that they could become one of the principal
means of encouraging small employers to offer apprenticeships.
We recommend that the Government should assess the potential of
group apprenticeship schemes and should develop models for funding
and operating them. If they prove to be viable on a larger scale,
the Government, through the proposed National Apprenticeship Service,
should promote them vigorously. (Paragraph 51)
RESPONSE
We recognise the key role that Group Training Associations
(GTAs) have in working with employers to support the training
of their apprentices and their adult workforce. We want to boost
the role played by Group Training Associations and other consortia-based
arrangements such as that developed by the London Apprenticeship
Company (based on the Australian approach) and similar examples
such as that of Salford Borough Council whereby very small businesses
and SMEs collaborate to share the number of apprenticeship places
so as to spread the risk and enhance the Apprentices' experience.
| 
