Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Education Committees have today (10 Nov) published the Government’s response to the joint report on Apprenticeships. The original report from the two Committees examined the Government’s ongoing reforms to apprenticeship funding, administration and standards, and recommended a number of changes. It appears that the Government has largely countered the recommendations with policy justifications or referrals to the Institute of Apprenticeships. Apparently most things are fine with the apprenticeship system. FE Week has picked up on one particular point which relates to the recommendation that ‘Apprentices should not have been allowed to begin their training without an assessment organisation in place and a clear idea of how their success will be measured’. The response was that it was up to employers to decide when apprentices should start their programme, that there would be an assessment organisation in place by the time apprentices needed assessment and that the issue only affected a small minority of apprentices. We look forward to the same relaxed approach applying to ‘A’ levels!
