1 Introduction
Context
1. Apprenticeships have a long history, and in recent
years the operation of government-funded apprenticeships has undergone
significant change. Concerns about the numbers of young people
entering into apprenticeships and the quality of apprenticeship
provision have driven these changes.
2. The starting point for reform of vocational education
and apprenticeships in the current Parliament was the publication
of the Wolf Report in March 2011. Alongside and in response to
this report, the Government made a number of changes to apprenticeship
frameworks, requiring apprenticeships to last for a minimum of
12 months, requiring an employer to be involved in all apprenticeships
from the outset (which marked the end of programme-led apprenticeships),
and introducing a grant for small businesses who employ an apprentice.
Our colleagues on the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee
published a report looking at apprenticeships for people of all
ages in November 2012.[1]
3. A number of further reforms to apprenticeships,
particularly focusing on apprenticeship funding and the design
of apprenticeship frameworks, are in the process of being implemented
by the Government. These were developed following the Richard
Review of Apprenticeships in England, published in November 2012.[2]
Our inquiry examines these proposed reforms to apprenticeships
and traineeships in terms of their impact on 16-19 year olds.
Our inquiry
4. Our inquiry was launched on 21 July 2014, with
the following terms of reference:
· The
effectiveness of apprenticeships and traineeships for 16-19 year
olds, including in terms of meeting employer needs in different
sectors, and providing young people with a solid foundation for
employment in general or in particular occupations or for further
study;
· The range of
apprenticeships and traineeships available to young people;
· Current levels
of employer engagement in apprenticeships (including in providing
places or defining standards and setting assessment), and what
further steps the Government could take to improve this;
· The impact
of recent changes to the funding of apprenticeships and traineeships;
· Whether the
Government's investment in apprenticeships represents value for
money in terms of the future wage returns for young people and
their employability;
· How the Government
could encourage businesses of all sizes and in all sectors to
offer apprenticeships, including improved fiscal, regulatory and
other measures;
· What factors
prevent more young people considering apprenticeships and how
these could be overcome;
· Whether young
people are adequately prepared for apprenticeships and how that
preparation should be improved;
· How the Government
could encourage more young people to consider apprenticeships
and traineeships.
5. We received 91 written submissions from a wide
range of witnesses. Much of the evidence came from employers,
employer groups and training providers. We held four oral evidence
sessions, hearing from six panels of witnesses as listed at the
end of this report, as well as the Minister for Skills and Equalities,
Nick Boles MP. We also ran an online forum on www.thestudentroom.com to gather views from
current and prospective apprentices about their experiences.
6. During this inquiry we have benefitted from the
expertise of our specialist adviser, Dr Lynn Gambin,[3]
and our standing specialist adviser on matters relating to education
and schools, Professor Alan Smithers.[4]
What is an apprenticeship?
7. The Government's implementation plan for the future
of apprenticeships, published in October 2013, set out four principles
that were intended to determine whether a programme of work-based
learning should be recognised as an apprenticeship and receive
Government support:
· an
Apprenticeship is a job, in a skilled occupation;
· an Apprenticeship
requires substantial and sustained training, lasting a minimum
of 12 months and including off-the-job training;
· an Apprenticeship
leads to full competency in an occupation, demonstrated by the
achievement of an Apprenticeship standard that is defined by employers;
and
· an Apprenticeship
develops transferable skills, including English and maths, to
progress careers.[5]
8. During the course of our inquiry it has become
clear that a good quality apprenticeship should also comply with
a further principle, that it should be income transformative in
a measurable way, for those who complete the scheme. We welcome
the Minister's agreement to this principle.[6]
16 to 19 year-olds
9. The term 16 to 19 year-olds covers young people
who have their seventeenth or eighteenth birthday in the course
of the academic year ending on 31 August. Some sources classify
people by actual age, and where evidence to our inquiry references
16 to 18 year olds we have kept the original phrasing, but this
should be read as equivalent to our definition of 16 to 19 year-olds.
Apprenticeship statistics
10. The Government publishes annual statistics for
the numbers of people starting and undertaking apprenticeships.
The most recent release provides figures up to the end of the
2013/14 academic year:
Table 1:
Apprenticeship starts by age band, 2009/10-2013/14
Age Band
| 2009/10
| 2010/11
| 2011/12
| 2012/13
| 2013/14
|
Under 16 | 400
| 320 | 210
| 230 | 200
|
16 | 29,380
| 30,490 | 29,890
| 25,080 | 25,540
|
17 | 40,780
| 44,840 | 43,200
| 35,810 | 38,970
|
18 | 46,220
| 56,050 | 56,590
| 53,430 | 55,050
|
19-24 | 113,770
| 143,430 | 161,420
| 165,390 | 159,120
|
25-34 | 25,250
| 73,400 | 97,060
| 101,180 | 74,380
|
35-44 | 13,680
| 54,470 | 66,320
| 64,790 | 42,850
|
45-59 | 9,810
| 50,320 | 62,200
| 61,060 | 41,850
|
60+ | 400
| 3,890 | 3,680
| 3,260 | 2,480
|
Total
| 279,700
| 457,200
| 520,600
| 510,200
| 440,400
|
Source: BIS, Breakdown by geography, equality &
diversity and sector subject area: starts 2002/03 to 2013/14
11. The table shows a large increase in overall apprenticeship
starts, from 279,700 in 2009/10 to 520,600 in 2011/12. This was
followed by a slight fall in 2012/13 and a more dramatic fall
in 2013/14, down to 440,400. The DfE attributed this to the requirement
to involve employers from the outset of any apprenticeship and
the minimum 12 month duration introduced in August 2012.[7]
12. For 16 to 19 year olds, the picture is different.
There was a modest increase in 2013/14 in the number of starts
for 16, 17 and 18 year-olds[8]
compared with 2012/13, up to 119,760 from 114,550, but the number
of apprenticeship starts for this age group remains lower than
in 2010/11, when there were 129,890 starts:Figure
1: Apprenticeship starts 2009/10-2013/14
Source: BIS, Breakdown by geography, equality &
diversity and sector subject area: starts 2002/03 to 2013/14
Although direct comparisons between the years before
and after 2011/12 are not possible due to changes in the way data
is collected, the general trend shows little or no increase in
overall numbers of starts for 16 to 19 year-olds over the last
5 years. The Minister suggested to us that the removal of short
and programme-led apprenticeships had led to 40,000 such schemes
for young people being "weeded out".[9]
Based on DfE figures, in 2009/10 46% of apprenticeships (53,718)
lasted at least 12 months and involved an employer from the start.[10]
By 2012/13 this figure had risen to 97% (116,167).[11]
13. DfE figures indicate that young people make more
applications for apprenticeships than their older counterparts:
there were 939,270 applications via the apprenticeship vacancies
website from 16 to 18 year olds in 2013/14 compared to 790,830
from people aged 19 and over.[12]
Figures for previous years show a similar pattern.[13]
During the first quarter of the 2013/14 academic year there were
12 applications (from people of all ages) per apprenticeship vacancy.[14]
14. Equally the proportion of young people who participate
in apprenticeships has not varied, with 5% of the age group taking
up an apprenticeship at the end of Key Stage 4, the same as in
2011/12.[15] The context
for this figure is a cohort size of around 2 million, in which
as many as two thirds of young people are taking part in some
form of vocational training (such as NVQs, OCR Cambridge National
Qualifications, BTECs and other courses).[16]
15. Employer engagement in apprenticeships has also
remained constant over the last two years. The UKCES Employer
Perspectives Survey found that in 2012, 9% of employers employed
an apprentice, and a further 6% offered apprenticeships but did
not currently employ any.[17]
The 2014 survey found that 10% of employers had apprentices, with
a further 5% offering apprenticeships.[18]
Background to traineeships
16. The Government launched the Access to Apprenticeships
scheme in 2011. It was aimed at young people who required extra
support before they could undertake an apprenticeship. Research
by the House of Commons Library shows that the impact of the scheme
was relatively modest:
There were 14,400 starts on the Access to Apprenticeships
pathway between 2011/12 and 2013/14, of which 5,500 converted
to a full apprenticeship.[19]
Following the Richard Review, the Government announced
that the Access to Apprenticeships scheme would be replaced by
a new system of traineeships. The DfE described traineeships as
follows:
Traineeships respond directly to employers' concerns
that many young people who apply for apprenticeships and other
jobs lack the skills, qualifications, behaviours or experience
they are looking for. Traineeships are an education and training
programme with a core of work preparation training, English, maths,
and work experience, designed to equip young people with the skills
and experience they need to be able to gain an apprenticeship
or sustainable job.[20]
Traineeships began from the 2013/14 Academic year.
They last up to six months and include a minimum of 6 weeks work
experience with an employer.[21]
There were 7,000 traineeship starts by 16 to 19 year-olds in 2013/14[22]
and 3,500 in the first quarter of 2014/15.[23]
1 Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, Fifth
Report of Session 2012/13, Apprenticeships, HC 83-I Back
2
Doug Richard, The Richard Review of Apprenticeships in England,
November 2012 Back
3
Dr Lynn Gambin, Research Fellow, Warwick Institute for Employment
Research, University of Warwick, declared the following interests:
Past sponsors of commissioned research include: BIS; National
Apprenticeships Service; The Edge Foundation. Current sponsors
of research projects include: Quality Assurance Agency for Higher
Education; Skills for Care; Business in the Community; CEDEFOP;
Construction Industry Training Board; DG Employment, European
Commission; Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Back
4
Professor Alan Smithers, Director, Centre for Education and Employment
Research, University of Buckingham, declared no interests in connection
with this inquiry. Back
5
BIS, The Future of Apprenticeships in England: Implementation Plan,
October 2013, paragraph 20-21 Back
6
Q483 Back
7
DfE (), para 4.3 Back
8
Based on their age at the start of the programme. Back
9
Q395 Back
10
DfE () para viii Back
11
Ibid. Back
12
DfE, Apprenticeship vacancy report - number of applications by age, gender, ethnicity or ssa (T1) or programme level: February 2015,
February 2015. Back
13
Ibid. Back
14
"Apprenticeship vacancies increase by a quarter year on year",
National Apprenticeship Service press release, 17 February 2014 Back
15
DfE, Statistical First Release: Destinations of key stage 4 and key stage 5 students, 2012/13,
January 2015, p.5 Back
16
DfE, Main SFR tables and figures: SFR18/2014 Back
17
UKCES, Employer Perspectives Survey: Executive Summary, December
2012, p.9 Back
18
UKCES, Employer Perspectives Survey 2014: UK Results, November
2014 p.91 Back
19
Apprenticeships Policy, House of Commons Library Standard
Note SN03052, December 2014 Back
20
DfE () para xiv Back
21
National Apprenticeships Service, Traineeships: A factsheet for employers,
October 2013 Back
22
Skills Funding Agency, Statistical First Release: Further Education & Skills: Learner Participation, Outcomes and Level of Highest Qualification data tables,
January 2015 Back
23
Skills Funding Agency, Statistical First Release: Further Education & Skills: Learner Participation, Outcomes and Level of Highest Qualification Held,
January 2015, p.17 Back
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