Grant offer letters for round 1 projects only required beneficiaries to report the employer investment as a whole rather than split between cash and in-kind investment.

Under round 2, beneficiaries are required to report the employer investment for both cash and in-kind.

Mr Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many apprenticeships will be created for (a) 16 to 18-year-olds and (b) people aged 19 years and over in each of the successful bids for round one of the Employer Ownership of Skills pilot. [172001]

Matthew Hancock: Data on the number of apprenticeship starts, by age, as part of round 1 of the Employer Ownership pilot will be published in the November 2013 statistical first release (SFR). The SFR will be published here on 28 November:

http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/Statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_current/

Mr Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what data or information he will take into account when assessing whether the training being provided as part of round 1 of the Employer Ownership of Skills pilot is (a) of high quality and (b) value for money. [172011]

Matthew Hancock: The externally commissioned impact evaluation of round 1 of the Employer Ownership of Skills pilot (EOP) is expected to use both quantitative and qualitative information to assess whether the training being provided is of high quality, mainly gathered via surveys of employers and learners. Quantitative measures will tend to focus on employment and wage outcomes for learners, and are likely to cover net improvements in employment status and wages. Qualitative measures will tend to focus on attitudinal aspects, and are likely to include shifts in perceptions amongst employers and learners regarding the quality and appropriateness of training provided, and whether they are more satisfied with the training provided compared to mainstream provision.

The value for money assessment will use evidence on net impact (ie impact of EOP adjusted for what would have happened anyway) on learners and employers, quantified in terms of economic benefits for learners and employers (using available evidence on wage and productivity returns), and compare these benefits to the costs of the pilots. The assessment will also use monitoring information from the pilots to judge how cost effective it has been in terms of using public money wisely and efficiently by taking account of a number of indicators such as number of learner starts, completions and achievement.