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This research aims to inform the forthcoming negotiations for the European Structural and Cohesion programs to run from 2014 to 2020. It looks at how the European Social Fund (ESF) might be used to promote economic growth and the creation of employment opportunities through supporting activity around self-employment, entrepreneurship and the providing of re-skilling opportunities. The research was based around Manchester and Newcastle to gain insights into how ESF delivery arrangements are working at the local level, and how they might best serve city-level priorities in the future. Although current ESF delivery is seen as contributing to addressing employability and skills concerns, a number of clear issues for consideration emerged from the study. For some, current provision is viewed as too generic, partly because it is delivered through large contracts rather than being more locally focused and oriented around meeting specific local needs.

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The Enterprise Pilots in Prisons were a cross-Departmental project led by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The pilots targeted offenders who wanted to start their own business after their release from custody. The intervention was designed to start when offenders were in their last three to six months in custody and continue after their release. Offenders received mentoring and access to finance (through the Start Up Loans Company), although their business could not be operationalised and finance was not made available until after their release. The policy aims were to: (1) help break the cycle of re-offending; (2) help individuals progress to self-employment on release; and (3) or, if more suited to other routes, help individuals progress to employment or other education or training on release.

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This document reports on research on the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers of 16 to 24 year olds, also known as the 'AGE 16 to 24' program, which supports businesses to recruit young apprentices. The program provides grants to employers with an individual value of GBP 1,500, subject to eligibility and availability. This report describes the findings of the research, which involved talking with participating employers, government agencies and training organisations involved in the administration of the grant. All aspects of the policy are covered, from the way it was run, whether the grant amount was set at the right level, to satisfaction with the learning and training.

The grant was especially targeted to small and medium sized employers and those that had never taken on an apprentice before. The evaluation shows that 80 per cent of grants were given to businesses that employed up to 25 people, and 85 per cent of the grants went to employers that have never had an apprentice before. On the basis of the positive findings of this evaluation, the Department for Business, Education and Skills (BIS) has decided to extend the program to December 2014.

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The evaluation, which sits alongside the Apprenticeships Evaluation Learner Survey, consisted of quantitative interviews with 4,000 employers that had had individuals complete an apprenticeship between March and October 2014. The research is intended to monitor key progress indicators and to develop understanding of the apprenticeship programme and the value it delivers. It provides insight into the impact of recent policy reforms and will help shape future development (and growth) of the programme. Specifically the research covered employers' experience of offering apprenticeships: who they took on and to what types of apprenticeship; their motivations for offering apprenticeships; the way the apprenticeships were delivered; the outcomes for their apprentices; and the satisfaction of employers and their future intentions.

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In 2008 the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and Ipsos MORI were commissioned to conduct a two-year evaluation of National Skills Academies (NSAs) by the former Learning and Skills Council (LSC), now the Skills Funding Agency. NSAs were first established from 2006 and have been rolled out incrementally over five rounds of development so far, under a competitive bidding process. NSAs were set up to be employer-led centres of excellence in learning and form part of successive government strategies to increase employer engagement with, and leadership in, vocational education and training, and improve the skills available in the working population. This report synthesises evidence gathered over both years of the evaluation across the following strands: a review of documentary evidence including NSA Business Plans, and 3-Year Reviews for the four Round 1 NSAs; three rounds of interviews with NSAs themselves; two rounds of interviews with NSA stakeholders (including major employers on NSA Boards and learning providers involved with NSAs); detailed case studies of NSA activity; qualitative research with employers involved with NSAs; and surveys of employers in NSA sectors and learners registered on NSA-endorsed courses. The report covers the first 10 NSAs to become operational: four approved in Round 1 (Construction, Financial Services, Food and Drink Manufacturing), four in Round 2 (Creative and Cultural Skills, Hospitality, Nuclear, Process Industries), and two from Round 3 (Retail and Sport and Active Leisure). The longest that any of the NSAs had been in operation by the end of the evaluation period was just over three years.

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This is the final report on the evaluation of the UK-Russia BRIDGE Higher Education Partnership Programme, known simply as BRIDGE. It is based upon desk research and fieldwork conducted in the period September 2009 to February 2010. BRIDGE supported the development of dual degrees, mutually recognised academic qualifications and research collaborations. The aims of BRIDGE were to: increase collaborative effort between Russian and UK universities by means of joint programme development leading to dual degrees or other mutually recognised academic qualifications; develop a model of university partnership brokering and dual degree development that will be replicable across other countries; extend the reach and availability of UK awards to Russian students; develop a community of innovators in Russia and the UK; facilitate a change in Russian higher education leading to a more outcomes-based, learner-centred, interactive and accountable system; provide learning points for UK and Russian higher education management; and progress change in Russia's systems as they follow the Bologna process. The report concludes that BRIDGE has been a success, meeting most of its targets and resulting in a high degree of satisfaction amongst institutions and students.

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The evaluation, which sits alongside the Apprenticeship Evaluation Employer Survey, consisted of quantitative interviews with 5,000 Level 2 and 3 apprentices, as well as 800 higher apprentices, to explore their views of their apprenticeship. The research is intended to help monitor key progress indicators and develop a greater understanding of recent policy reforms that will help shape future development of the programme. Specifically it covered individuals' motivations for undertaking an apprenticeship, their experience of the training they received, their satisfaction with the apprenticeship and the impact this has had on their career.

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[This report] presents the findings from assessing of the early impact of 'New challenges, new chances further education and skills system reform plan: building a world class system', published in December 2011. The report set out what the UK government would financially support and the program of work to reform the further education (FE) and skills system for adults aged 19 and over in England. This evaluation assesses how far the reform program: (1) influenced the behaviour of FE and skills providers; and (2) changed the way that they work with government and its agencies. It also examines how the reforms affected: (1) increasing employer and learner investment in skills; and (2) creating a responsive and high-quality FE sector. Show less

The higher education (HE) white paper, 'Higher education: students at the heart of the system' (June 2011), sets out how the UK government will create a more dynamic and student-led system, which supports social mobility and economic growth and is affordable for government. The reforms will put higher education institutions on a secure financial footing and enable the HE system to compete internationally. This will be followed in 2012 by a Higher Education Bill, which will take forward any changes to primary legislation needed to implement the reforms. An impact assessment is a tool to assess the impacts of regulatory changes on the economy. This impact assessment focuses on those proposals set out in the HE white paper which involve regulatory change and/or require primary legislation to implement via a HE Bill in 2012, that is: (1) changes to funding for HE and financial support; (2) information policies; (3) fair access; (4) reforming the control of student numbers; and (5) reforming the regulatory framework. The policies are not yet fully developed. The UK government will be consulting on the various options presented in this impact assessment. It quantifies as far as possible the benefits and costs of the proposed policies and compares them with a set of other options and the counterfactual. A further, more detailed impact assessment will be undertaken prior to the introduction of a Bill. Show less

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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