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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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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 strategy document sets out the UK government's vision for reform of the further education and skills system in order to improve the skills of the workforce, the performance of the economy and engagement in learning. The reform of the skills systems includes: (1) expanding the numbers of adult apprenticeships available, so by 2014-15 there will be 75,000 more adults starting than under the previous government's plans; 200,000 adults will be able to start an apprenticeship; 605 million pounds will be invested in adult apprenticeships in the 2011-12 financial year; (2) fully funding training for young adults aged from 19 up to 24 undertaking their first full level 2 ([General Certificate of Secondary Education] GCSE equivalent) or first level 3 qualification when they do not already have one; (3) fully funding basic skills courses for individuals who left school without basic reading, writing and mathematics; (4) introducing government-backed loans from 2013-14 for learners aged 24 and over undertaking level 3 or higher qualifications; (5) initiating a demand-led growth and innovation fund of up to 50 million pounds of government investment a year, to support employer-led initiatives within sectors; (6) replacing Train to Gain with an [small and medium enterprise] SME focused offer to help small employers train low-skilled staff; and (7) helping people who are on active job-seeking benefits to secure work through labour-market relevant training.

Published summary on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills website. Show less

The UK government has published this consultation in response to the ‘Richard review of apprenticeships’, published in November 2012. It sets out the government’s long term vision for apprenticeships, together with proposals for achieving this. The review looked at how apprenticeships in England can meet the needs of the changing economy. This government response accepts the review’s assessment of the challenges and opportunities to come and endorses its recommendations for reform, in particular to: place control of apprenticeships more firmly in the hands of employers; and ensure that all apprenticeships are rigorous and responsive to employers’ needs. The government’s response also launches a consultation on the practical steps needed to turn this vision into reality. The government invites contributions from those interested in the future of apprenticeships by 22 May 2013. These will be considered and used to inform the government’s future approach and implementation plan in 2013.

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This white paper sets out the UK government's plans to reform the higher education and research system. In some cases these plans are subject to Parliament. The paper builds on the proposals consulted on in the earlier green paper, noting that the higher education landscape has changed fundamentally since the last major legislative reforms of 1992. The university system now needs important reform to fulfil its potential and to sustain its global standing.

The paper argues that higher education continues to be a sound financial and personal investment with a wide range of societal benefits. But there is more to be done for the university system to fulfil its potential as an engine of social mobility and a driver of economic growth. Access remains uneven, with young people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds 2.4 times less likely to go into higher education than the most advantaged. Courses are inflexible, based on the traditional three-year undergraduate model, with insufficient innovation and provision of two-year degrees and degree apprenticeships. Many students are dissatisfied with the provision they receive, with over 60 per cent of students feeling that all or some elements of their course are worse than expected and a third of these attributing this to concerns with teaching quality. Employers are suffering skills shortages, especially in high skilled [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] STEM areas; at the same time around 20 per cent of employed graduates are in non-professional roles three and a half years after graduating. While the graduate premium has remained substantial, even as student numbers have expanded rapidly in recent decades, recent research suggests there is large variation in graduate outcomes across both providers and subjects, and even for those that studied the same subject within the same provider.

The paper suggests that at the heart of this lies insufficient competition and a lack of informed choice. The measures outlined here will help ensure that everyone with the potential to benefit from higher study can access relevant information to help them make the right choices from a wide range of high quality universities and benefit from excellent teaching that supports their future productivity. By introducing more competition and informed choice into higher education, the government aims to deliver better outcomes and value for students, employers and taxpayers.

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[This document] describes the steps taken to reform the use of vocational qualifications (based on occupation or employment) in full-time education, including a timetable for the introduction of these reforms. It sets out new initiatives to take forward the reforms in new areas, including recommendations from the review of adult vocational qualifications led by Nigel Whitehead of BAE Systems. It also presents some ideas for future reforms, particularly to the way the development of skills and competences relating to employability are funded.

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This report gives employers an update on the reform of the apprenticeship programme. It encourages them to employ an apprentice and to consider becoming part of a trailblazer group to develop a new standard. This standard will set out the knowledge, skills and behaviours that apprentices will have on completing their apprenticeship.

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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

This report summarises the findings from qualitative analysis supported by a quantitative assessment of how colleges and training organisations were likely to react to the reforms and policy changes in relation to post-19 further education (FE) provision. The research, carried out in February and March 2011 with a small number of colleges and training organisations, provides an initial assessment that will inform later work.

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