2 Managing risks and barriers
Apprenticeships
9. The Department for Education, with the Department
for Business, Innovation and Skills, are reforming apprenticeships
in line with recommendations from this Committee and the Richard
Review of Apprenticeships.[17]
They are making apprenticeships longer and involving employers
more in designing and running them, including by getting employers
to set standards. These changes should improve the quality of
apprenticeships. In future, all apprenticeships will last at least
a year; include English and maths for those without at least a
GCSE grade C in these subjects; and end with an assessment of
full competence.[18]
Already the number of young people aged 16 to 18 starting apprenticeships
of 12 months or more has increased, from 62,300 in 2010/11 to
110,900 in 2012/13.[19]
10. However, the total number of new apprentices
aged 16 to 18 fell from 131,700 in 2010/11 to 114,500 in 2012/13.
Provisional numbers for 2013/14 show a small increase to 117,800,
but this is still 11% below the peak. The Department told us that
that there was a balance to be struck between the quantity and
quality of apprenticeships. It had consciously decided to reduce
the total number of apprenticeships in order to achieve greater
quality, including by ending a previous initiative called Programme-led
apprenticeships, which took place in simulated workplaces.[20]
11. We were concerned that, in future, small businesses
might be put off taking on apprentices and that this might further
reduce the overall number of apprenticeships. Only 29% of firms
that employ under 50 people currently provide apprenticeships.
But the new model, which places more responsibility on employers,
may be inherently unattractive to such firms, especially if they
perceive that the administrative burdens and costs of having an
apprentice will increase.[21]
We highlighted the example of hairdressers and beauty therapists.
These companies find it extremely difficult to provide the resources
necessary to support an apprenticeship, even with the help of
Government grants.[22]
The Departments told us they were working to reduce administrative
burdens for smaller businesses. On funding, the Government said
it would be paying £2 for every £1 that the private
sector put into apprenticeship training, and that additional funding
would be available for small businesses specifically, as well
as for businesses that took on younger people. For example, it
told us that the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers provided £1,500
for smaller businesses to take on their first two apprentices.
The Departments were also trialling their new funding arrangements
in order to improve their understanding of how employers would
react to them in practice.[23]
Travel costs
12. Since 2011/12, the Department has had a Bursary
Fund worth some £180 million. Young people who are eligible
for the fund may use it to pay for things like transport, clothing,
books and other equipment. For young people in some areas, however,
we found that all the bursary would have to be spent on transport.[24]
Local authorities must have a transport policy
setting out their arrangements
to support 16- to 18-year-olds to access education and training.
But this policy does not have to include providing financial assistance
and the National Audit Office found that in 63 local authorities,
where transport costs were relatively high, young people did not
get such assistance.[25]
The average bursary is £445 a year, but in local authorities
including Suffolk, Norfolk, Hampshire, Northumberland and Oxfordshire
the typical charge for bus travel was over £500 a year.[26]
13. We were concerned that the law now required young
people to stay in full-time education or training until they were
18, but that many of these young people would have to pay for
their travel, unlike under-16s.[27]
We asked the Department whether it had evaluated the impact on
participation of local authorities' transport polices. It told
us that it did not know enough about individual local authorities'
arrangements, and committed to look into this important issue
further.[28]
Careers advice
14. Over time many different approaches to careers
advice have been tried and have not worked. In September 2012,
the Department introduced a new statutory duty for schools to
provide independent and impartial advice. Prior to this, local
authorities had provided careers advice through the Connexions
service, which central government funded. In 2010, the Government
stopped the Connexions service and transferred responsibility
to schools, without transferring the funding. The Department said
that it withdrew the funding deliberately as part of wider Government
efforts to reduce the deficit.[29]
15. We asked the Department to explain its rationale
for giving schools the role of providing independent careers advice.
We were particularly worried that schools with sixth forms had
a vested interest in holding onto their students post-16, because
they are a source of revenue, and that this would therefore compromise
any advice they gave. Additionally, we felt that staff in small
schools might lack the breadth of skills and knowledge to advise
students well and that there might be too little involvement from
employers. We have received evidence that only 17% of 11- to 16-year-olds
have heard of apprenticeships.[30]
Meanwhile, Ofsted found in September 2013 that just 12 out of
60 schools it visited were ensuring all students received sufficient
information to consider a wide breadth of career possibilities.[31]
16. The Department told us that its evidence showed
that careers advice worked best as part of daily school life,
rather than being a service brought in from outside.[32]
However, the Department accepted that the performance of schools
in this area was still patchy. It pointed out that Ofsted found
some schools that were doing very well and said that it wanted
to build on this. Following the Ofsted report, the Department
re-issued its guidance.[33]
It told us that it expects to make further improvements to careers
advice in future.[34]
It said that the "destination measures" it was developing
for secondary schools (data that track what young people go on
to do after leaving education) would help to demonstrate where
careers services were good and enable it to hold schools.
17 Q 113;The Richard Review of Apprenticeships, November 2012;
Committee of Public Accounts Report, Adult Apprenticeships, Session 2010-12, HC 1875, May 2012 Back
18
C&AG's Report, para 3.10 Back
19
C&AG's Report, Figure 13. Back
20
Q 134; C&AG's Report, Figure 13 Back
21
Q 122 Back
22
Submission from London College of Beauty Therapy Back
23
Qq 126 and 129 Back
24
C&AG's Report, paras 14, 2.18 Back
25
C&AG's Report, paras 2.24-2.25 Back
26
Q 95; C&AG's Report, para 2.25 and Figure 9 Back
27
Qq 99-101 Back
28
Qq 90; Written evidence from DfE Back
29
Q 41; C&AG's Report, para 2.9 Back
30
Q 46; Submission from Association of Colleges Back
31
Qq 38 and 48; C&AG's Report, para 2.10 Back
32
Q 42 Back
33
Qq 47 and 51 Back
34
Q 44 Back
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