Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to review (1) the apprenticeship system, and (2) the apprenticeship levy.
Answered by Baroness Berridge
The government is committed to improving the working of the apprenticeship system and the apprenticeship levy. We are continuing to engage closely with businesses and to listen to their views about the operation of the levy and the apprenticeships programme more broadly, taking into account the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
The government’s ‘Plan for Jobs’ will help to kickstart the nation’s economic recovery and apprenticeships will be more important than ever in helping businesses to recruit the right people and develop the skills they need to recover and grow, both now and in the long-term.
We recognise that employers at the moment face increased challenges with hiring new apprentices and so we will introduce a new payment of £2,000 to employers in England for each new apprentice they hire under 25, and a £1,500 payment for each new apprentice they hire aged 25 and over, from 1 August 2020 to 31 January 2021. Details can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that employers use at least half of their apprenticeship levy spend on new starters.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The apprenticeship programme is employer-led. The department’s reforms have put employers in the driving seat, supporting them to design the high-quality apprenticeship standards that meet their skills needs. It is also for employers to decide which apprenticeships they offer, when, and to whom.
Apprenticeships provide valuable opportunities for people of all ages. While the department has no current plans to restrict the use of employer’s levy funds, all aspects of the programme will be kept under review in response to employer feedback and as preparations for a comprehensive Spending Review next year continue.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that employers use at least half of their apprenticeship levy spend on apprentices who are under 30 years of age.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The apprenticeship programme is employer-led. The department’s reforms have put employers in the driving seat, supporting them to design the high-quality apprenticeship standards that meet their skills needs. It is also for employers to decide which apprenticeships they offer, when, and to whom.
Apprenticeships provide valuable opportunities for people of all ages. While the department has no current plans to restrict the use of employer’s levy funds, all aspects of the programme will be kept under review in response to employer feedback and as preparations for a comprehensive Spending Review next year continue.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to introduce to the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) a greater emphasis on STEAM subjects; and what consideration they have given to including qualifications in design to count towards the EBacc.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government has no plans to change the EBacc. It has been designed to be limited in size in order to allow pupils to continue to study additional subjects that reflect their individual interests and strengths. The subjects that make up the EBacc are based on the subjects which the Russell Group says at A level open more doors to more degrees at their universities. They provide a basis for a variety of careers beyond the age of 16. They give pupils a broad general knowledge that will enable them to participate in and contribute to society.
The government introduced the EBacc as a school performance measure in 2010 to encourage schools to enter more pupils for the core academic subjects of English, maths, science, history or geography and a language. Entries to the science component of the EBacc have increased from 63% in 2010 to 95% in 2018.
Under the new national curriculum, design and technology (D&T) remains a compulsory subject in all maintained schools during key stage 3, and schools are required to offer it at key stage 4. We have worked with organisations such as the James Dyson Foundation and the Royal Academy of Engineering to reform the D&T GCSE and curriculum. The new GCSE was first taught in September 2017. It is now a subject which has been updated from its craft-based routes to a cutting-edge qualification, focusing on iterative design processes which are at the core of contemporary practice.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase the number of mature students studying part-time for level 4 and level 5 qualifications in England.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Studying part-time and later in life can bring considerable benefits for individuals, employers and the economy. For the first time this academic year, part-time students will be able to access full-time equivalent maintenance loans.
The Review of Post-18 Education and Funding will look at how we can encourage learning that is more flexible, like part-time, distance learning and commuter study options.
In addition, the Department for Education is undertaking a review of level 4 and 5 education, focusing on how technical qualifications at this level can better address the needs of learners and employers.
As part of the review, we want to ensure that any considerations are properly addressed and that provision helps support progression for learners of all backgrounds, including young people and more mature learners looking to upskill or retrain.
We expect to publish level 4-5 proposals for consultation alongside the conclusion of the Post-18 Review in early 2019.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of the withdrawal of the nursing bursary on the number of applications for nursing degree courses in England.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department is working with relevant bodies across health and education to monitor the effects of the healthcare funding reforms, including the impact on application numbers.
There is still strong demand for nursing courses. While the latest UCAS figures for 31 August 2018 show that English acceptances to nursing courses have fallen by 3.7% compared to the previous year, there are still more applicants than places available for them.
The Department for Health and Social Care is working with Health Education England and the university sector to ensure students continue to apply for courses up to the end of clearing in October 2018 and in future years.
We have also opened new work-based learning routes into the nursing profession for those who may not be able to study full-time.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the underlying causes of the reduction in apprenticeship starts; and what action they intend to take to increase the number of those undertaking apprenticeships.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government is moving away from old apprenticeship frameworks, which employers said were often not equipping apprentices to do the job, towards new, higher quality apprenticeship standards being designed by employers themselves.
We are making sure that apprenticeships at every level are providing high quality training. Our reforms are making apprenticeships longer, more relevant, with additional off the job training and more rigorous assessments. The 20% off the job training rule, the shift to higher quality standards with a longer average duration, and the drop off in frameworks, have already contributed to a 20% rise in expected apprenticeship training hours over the past year. Apprenticeships on the new apprenticeship standards make up 37% of overall starts, compared to 3% this time last year.
We will continue to work closely with employers to help them take advantage of the reforms in order to grow their apprenticeship programmes and invest in the long-term skills needs of their businesses. We recently introduced the ability for levy-paying employers to transfer up to 10% of their funds to other employers, supporting further growth in starts. We meet regularly and frequently with business groups, giving them the opportunity to let us know what more we can do to make the reforms work better for them.
The department recently published an update on the progress of Apprenticeships reform. Please find a copy attached.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to support micro-businesses in the creative industries in providing apprenticeships.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We regularly publish data on apprenticeships, which can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/further-education-and-skills-statistical-first-release-sfr. This includes analysis of the number of apprenticeship starts by Sector Subject Area (SSA). Our most recent statistical release shows that starts in the Arts, Media and Publishing SSA have increased 14% on the year, though employers in the creatives industries will also hire apprentices in other SSAs.
The Department for Education works closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to understand the impact of the apprenticeship reforms on the creative industries. As part of this, we have committed to inviting an employer representative from the creative industries to sit on our Apprenticeship Stakeholder Board.
Government provides generous funding to smaller employers who do not pay the levy. Non-levy payers must co-invest only 10% of the costs of apprentice training and assessment in order to access 90% government funding. For micro-businesses with less than 50 employees, the 10% co-investment is waived when they hire a 16-18 year old apprentice or a 19-24 year old apprentice who is a care leaver or who has an Education, Health and Care Plan.
Our communications and engagement work helps to make sure that as many employers of all sizes are aware of the apprenticeship reforms and the benefits of taking on an apprentice. Over 40,000 employers have visited our Get in Go Far website since the current phase of the campaign launched in January, and there have been over 1.4 million views of our adverts on social media. Our national employer helpline is open all year round.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the apprenticeship levy on training and apprenticeships in the creative industries.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
We regularly publish data on apprenticeships, which can be found on GOV.UK at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/further-education-and-skills-statistical-first-release-sfr. This includes analysis of the number of apprenticeship starts by Sector Subject Area (SSA). Our most recent statistical release shows that starts in the Arts, Media and Publishing SSA have increased 14% on the year, though employers in the creatives industries will also hire apprentices in other SSAs.
The Department for Education works closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to understand the impact of the apprenticeship reforms on the creative industries. As part of this, we have committed to inviting an employer representative from the creative industries to sit on our Apprenticeship Stakeholder Board.
Government provides generous funding to smaller employers who do not pay the levy. Non-levy payers must co-invest only 10% of the costs of apprentice training and assessment in order to access 90% government funding. For micro-businesses with less than 50 employees, the 10% co-investment is waived when they hire a 16-18 year old apprentice or a 19-24 year old apprentice who is a care leaver or who has an Education, Health and Care Plan.
Our communications and engagement work helps to make sure that as many employers of all sizes are aware of the apprenticeship reforms and the benefits of taking on an apprentice. Over 40,000 employers have visited our Get in Go Far website since the current phase of the campaign launched in January, and there have been over 1.4 million views of our adverts on social media. Our national employer helpline is open all year round.
Asked by: Lord Allen of Kensington (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the amount of existing training activity that companies will be able to re-badge into level 2 apprenticeships in order to comply with new regulations.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
It is not the intention of the apprenticeship programme that companies should re-badge existing training to comply with apprenticeship regulations. Apprenticeships are a specific product defined in law. We are introducing new employer-designed standards to improve the quality of the offer and better meet employers’ skill needs, and have committed to all new apprentices being on the new standards by 2020. 253 standards are ready for delivery, and a further 277 are currently in development. Our intention is to maintain and improve apprenticeship quality, and ensure that government funds are spent on approved training to build the knowledge, skills and behaviours to achieve competency in a true occupation.
We have implemented extensive measures underpinned by statutory regulations to safeguard and improve the quality of learning provided through the apprenticeships programme.
We are continuing to focus on the quality of apprenticeships by insisting that all apprenticeships must be real paid jobs; have a minimum duration of 12 months; involve sustained training and acquisition of skills through off-the-job training; and must include English and maths for those who have not previously achieved good GCSEs in those subjects.