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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 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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This consultation is published in response to Doug Richard's independent 'Review of apprenticeships', which looked at how apprenticeships in England can meet the needs of the changing economy. It addresses Doug Richard's recommendations for reforming the way apprenticeships are funded. The government has already endorsed the review recommendations, which aim to give employers more control over apprenticeships, and ensure that all apprenticeships are rigorous and responsive to employers' needs. [The government has] previously consulted on the 'Future of apprenticeships in England' to encourage feedback on the practical steps needed to turn this vision into reality. This consultation seeks views on three ways of delivering funding reforms put forward by Doug Richard: (1) a new online system for apprenticeships with payments to employers made directly from the system; (2) utilising the [pay as you earn] PAYE system; and (3) reforming the existing provider funding infrastructure.

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In 2010 the UK Government set out the vision for skills and how the further education (FE) and skills system would need to reform. The vision brings together the necessity for businesses to continue to invest in the training and skills of their workforce while recognising several key areas will continue to need government support. This document sets out what the Government will financially support and the programme of work required to take forward the reform of FE and skills system for adults aged 19 and over in England. It is based on the principles set out in 'Skills for sustainable growth' [available in VOCEDplus at TD/IRD 102.681] and taking account of the responses to the 'New challenges, new chances' consultation. The key elements of the reform programme for the system are: students at the heart of the FE and skills system; first-class advice delivered by the National Careers Service; a ladder of opportunity of comprehensive vocational education and training programmes; excellence in teaching and learning; relevant and focused learning programmes and qualifications; strategic governance for a dynamic FE sector; freedoms and flexibilities [for providers]; funding priorities through a simplified funding system; empowered students making informed choices; and global FE.

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A highly skilled workforce is needed for the UK to compete successfully, but skills shortages remain. The skills system is confusing and often changes, with little employer engagement and an acceptance of poor provision. The UK government initiated the 2010 national skills strategy 'Investing in skills for sustainable growth' with the aim of improving the system. The next step is to make it more rigorous and responsive to need. Vocational qualifications must be rigorous so they qualify a worker to practise in their chosen role. The government aims to achieve this through a responsive system that ensures the flexibility for education and training providers to deliver what learners and employers really want. This publication explains how the government plans to: raise standards by making the system more professional and intervening in poor provision; create traineeships to prepare young people for work; reform and improve the quality of Apprenticeships; make qualifications relevant and valued; use funding to make provision more responsive; and give employers and individuals the information to make the right choices.

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This document analyses the potential impact of the proposals in the Post-16 Skills Plan on specific protected groups as identified in the Equality Act 2010. The initial assessment is that many of the policy proposals are expected to have positive impacts on individuals with protected characteristics. The document outlines scenarios where proposed changes are expected to have disproportionate effects (whether they be positive or negative) on individuals or groups with protected characteristics: age; disability and special educational needs (SEN); gender reassignment; pregnancy and maternity; race and ethnicity; religion or belief; gender; sexual orientation and transgender; disadvantage; and low prior attainment. Annex A provides a Department for Education (DfE) analysis of pupil characteristics.

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