An influential committee of MPs has told DfE ministers to “get serious’ on skills in a damning report on the state of the skills system.
A report published by the Public Acounts Committee today has put together a series of recommendations for the government to boost skills training and education, warning that the £4 billion annual spend on 19+ education and training is “failing to deliver skills we need for the economy”.
The apprenticeship levy must be reviewed and an action plan produced to boost participation of people from disadvantaged backgrounds in training, the committee said.
The committee’s recommendations have called on the Department for Education to “review how it incentivises employers to invest in skills development, including through the apprenticeship levy, and in light of the findings, take action to improve the effectiveness of the incentives”.
In addition, it said the DfE should develop an evidence-based plan to support those from disadvantaged backgrounds into training, strip out government programmes that overlap with each other, and come up with measures to support colleges to tackle financial and workforce pressures.
