Government must align apprenticeship delivery plan with "smarter state" ambition
13 Oct 2016 02:10 PM
techUK responds to the Public Accounts Committee inquiry on the Government's apprenticeship programme.
The Public Accounts Committee held an inquiry the value derived from apprenticeships following the publication of an NAO reportwhich called the programme into question.
techUK submitted written evidence to the PAC. The document outlined the following recommendations which demonstrate the ways the Department for Education can further reform the apprenticeship programme. techUK believes these will help the Government deliver greater value for money through its apprenticeship programme, closing the digital skills gap and increasing productivity:
- In an era of huge technological advancements, the Governmentshould give further consideration to how apprenticeships can best be used to help companies where there are roles are risk of automation or augmentation. Typically, this will require the type of skills that lie in higher level apprenticeship standards, which should be seen as a boon, providing a direct way for the Government to deliver high-value, high-skilled apprenticeships.
- The accreditation process needs to be adaptive and responsive to the lightning-fast pace of change in many sectors. Currently the system is too rigid making it ill-suited to provide apprentices with the skills to allow them to benefit from the most skilled jobs in the economy.
- The Government must align the apprenticeship delivery plan with the Government’s “smarter state” ambition. Real-time evidence and data-driven policy, responsive to future workforce needs will ensure Government investment is well-targeted and achieves value for money.
For more on techUK's work on the Apprenticeships, please see:
APPRENTICESHIPS INQUIRY PAC - TECHUK RESPONSE 041016 (PDF)