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This document sets out the UK Government's suggestions for improving the system for recognising professional qualifications across the European Union (EU). Recent evidence suggests that there is significant untapped potential in EU services, both in terms of productivity and employment. Reforms that improved the single market in services could have a significant impact on growth within the EU. Reforming the process for mutual recognition of professional qualifications in the EU is a key achievable priority in improving the single market in services, and creating growth.

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This publication presents experimental outcome based measures covering the destinations (into employment and learning) and progression of post-19 learners completing funded further education training in 2010 to 2011. The measures make use of administrative datasets already held by government to observe learning and employment activity in 2011 to 2012, and prior attainment of learners to measure progression.

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[This paper] reports research findings on the [UK] government's proposal for adults aged 24 and above, who study for qualifications at level 3 and above, to make greater contributions to the costs of their learning. The government proposes to remove grant funding for these further education learners and courses. This will allow the government to focus investment on younger and lower-qualified learners who are less likely to invest in themselves. Instead, the government will provide income-contingent loans to cover the resulting upfront costs, in line with its principles of promoting fairness and personal responsibility. These 24+ Advanced Learning Loans will be made available to new learners from the 2013 to 2014 academic year, with the first full year expected to be the 2014/15 academic year. [Department for Business, Innovation and Skills] BIS carried out an impact assessment to show the economic costs and benefits of this proposal, and an equality impact assessment to look at how the proposal will affect different types of learners. This research provides a greater understanding of four specific learner groups: those aged 40+, and particularly those out of work; those with mental or physical disabilities or learning difficulties that have particular needs regarding communication and information; those seeking to take up Advanced/Higher Apprentices; and Muslim learners. This research indicated that most learner groups are unlikely to be put off by the loans proposition, provided it is communicated effectively. It also highlighted groups which are likely to face specific issues and challenges.

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This report presents the findings of a survey designed to provide new evidence about self-employed people. The number of self-employed people in the UK increased by over half a million between 2010 and 2015, accounting for over a quarter of the growth in total employment over that period. Previous research has shown that self-employed people are a diverse group, so there are likely to be many reasons for their choice of being self-employed. This survey aims to develop understanding of these reasons and the wider impact of this growth in self-employment. The survey covers: why and how people choose to enter and remain in self-employment; how they view their situation; the difficulties they faced; and how they manage their life in self-employment.

Key findings include: self-employment is a positive choice for the majority but for some it is less of a proactive choice and can be precarious; most plan to stay in self-employment; most self-employed people have no ambition to be employers; the self-employed feel their lives are better overall and over half think they are better off financially; most self-employed people have additional sources of income; some do experience big problems but they are not universal; the areas where more people report big problems tend to relate to planning; there does not appear to be a problem with support to set up in self-employment; working or cooperating with other self-employed people and businesses is common; and more money or security were the main attraction for those who had left self-employment and become employees.

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Equality impact assessments are an important framework for demonstrating due regard through considering evidence and analysis to help identify the likely positive and negative impacts that policy proposals may have on certain protected groups of consumers and to estimate whether such impacts disproportionately affect such groups. This assessment takes a summary view of the equality impacts of the changes to the apprenticeship program outlined below: (1) new incentive payments for small employers to take on a young apprentice for the first time; (2) measures to make it quicker and easier for employers to take on an apprentice, including reducing the time it takes an employer to advertise for an apprentice to one month, and stripping back any unnecessary health and safety requirements; (3) requiring apprenticeship providers to offer training in English and Maths up to the standard of a good [General Certificate of Secondary Education] GCSE to all apprentices, and publishing their progress; (4) launching a new employer-led review into the standards and quality of apprenticeships, to ensure every apprenticeship delivers professionally recognised qualifications which employers value; and (5) prioritising the efforts of the National Apprenticeship Service where apprenticeships deliver greatest value, including on younger adults, new employees, higher level qualifications and particular sectors, whilst maintaining a demand-led, all age program open to all sectors across the economy where high quality apprenticeships can be offered.

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This review looks at the framework for determining employment status and provides a snapshot of the UK labour market in 2015. In order to gain a greater understanding of some of the issues being faced, officials were asked to consider what the UK labour market looks like and suggest ways in which government could deliver a framework that strikes the correct balance between the rights of the individual and the needs of business, supporting growth and prosperity in the 21st century. The review involved discussions with a number of stakeholders and this report represents the findings of that review.

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The national strategy for access and student success in higher education has been developed at the request of the UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Minister for Universities and Science. The vision of this national strategy is: that all those with the potential to benefit from higher education have equal opportunity to participate and succeed, on a course and in an institution that best fit their potential, needs and ambitions for employment or further study. This final report to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills sets out what the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) will do to carry out the strategy.

Part one summarises the vision, overall approach and key actions that are proposed across the three broad stages of the student lifecycle: (1) access - preparing for and entering higher education; (2) retention and student success - staying on and achieving a qualification; and (3) progression to further study or to/within employment. Part two describes the strategy in detail and the evidence that it is based on. It brings together new and existing research on access and student success, including evidence gathered through commissioned research, a call for evidence and discussions with a wide range of stakeholders. The first three chapters discuss issues, evidence, and recommendations relating to the three broad stages of the student lifecycle. The concluding chapter describes in detail the proposed implementation of the strategy and outlines the types of indicators that will be developed to measure progress against the priorities it identifies.

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Higher education in the United Kingdom (UK) is a successful public-private partnership of government funding and institutional autonomy. This White Paper sets out the government's reforms for higher education with a view to tackling three challenges. The first is to shift public spending away from teaching grants and towards repayable tuition loans, to ensure that higher education receives the funding it needs even as substantial savings are made to public expenditure. The second is to ensure that higher education institutions (HEIs) deliver a better student experience; improving teaching, assessment, feedback and preparation for the world of work. The third challenge is to ensure that HEIs take more responsibility for increasing social mobility. The reforms are designed to deliver a more responsive higher education sector in which funding follows the decisions of learners and successful institutions are freed to thrive; in which there is a new focus on the student experience and the quality of teaching and in which further education colleges and other alternative providers are encouraged to offer a diverse range of higher education provision. The overall goal is higher education that is more responsive to student choice, that provides a better student experience and that helps improve social mobility.

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The UK Government's 2010 strategy document 'Investing in skills for sustainable growth' [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 107.412] set out the principles of fairness and shared responsibility underpinning the investment strategy designed to create a further education (FE) system delivering a lifelong approach to learning, nurturing, sustainable economic growth and social renewal. This current investment statement confirms the Government's commitment to invest in high quality provision that delivers good value for money with a focus on young adults, the low skilled and those who are unemployed.

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This report concentrates on the performance of young people in England compared with top performing countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) recent international Survey of Adult Skills. England's performance was like the OECD average in literacy and below the OECD average in numeracy. The performance of young people, aged 16 to 24 was identified as being of particular concern when comparisons were made internationally. Re-examination and further analysis of the data from the England national report and the OECD's international report from the Survey of Adult Skills offers some explanation for this relative poor performance.

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