THE WAY TO WORK

The Report of the ModernApprenticeship Advisory

Committee

September 2001

MODERN APPRENTICESHIPS:THE WAY TO WORK

The Report of the Modern Apprenticeship Advisory Committee

September 2001

To: The Rt. Hon. Estelle Morris MP, Secretary of State for Education and SkillsMr Bryan Sanderson CBE, Chairman of the Learning and Skills Council

The Modern Apprenticeship Advisory Committee was appointed by the then Secretary of State forEducation and Employment, the Rt. Hon. David Blunkett MP, in March this year. We were asked to report by the end of September advising the Secretary of State and the Learning and Skills Council on a three year action plan for the development, promotion and delivery of modern apprenticeships. This we now do.

The report must speak for itself, but I wish to say three things in submitting it.

First, the committee has had to work at speed to complete its task in time and this has placed limitationson the scope of our consultations and inquiries. We judge nevertheless that they have been fullyadequate to our purpose, given the very extensive consultations already carried out earlier by theDepartment, the conclusions from which were published in March this year in Modern Apprenticeships:Consultation Response. We have had full access to the relevant papers.

Secondly, I speak for the whole committee in saying that we feel greatly indebted to our secretaryJohn West and his assistant David Oatley, for whom constant demands and tight deadlines have beena way of life these last six months.

Thirdly, I record that the Committee has been united in its enthusiasm for the task given it. Timing is all.The creation of the Learning and Skills Council is being accompanied by action to strengthen theNational Training Organisations and the emergence of the new Connexions Service. We believe thatthese events together provide a unique opportunity to establish modern apprenticeships on a lastingbasis as a high quality way forward in the development of skills in this country, to the great benefit ofemployers and young people alike. We trust that our report shows how that opportunity can be seized.

Sir John Cassels, Chairman28 September 2001

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FOREWORD

1. Introduction 4

2. Overview 5An apprenticeship system 5Building an apprenticeship system 7

3. What are we trying to do, and how are we doing? 9What is apprenticeship? 9Why is apprenticeship desirable? 9International standards 10Our current position 11Conclusion 13

4. A National Framework for Apprenticeships 14The framework 14Commentary 16

5. The Content and Certification of Apprenticeships 17Certification 19Development work 20

6. Delivery of Apprenticeships 21The LSC 21Providing apprenticeships 22Management information 26

7. Pre-employment and ‘Other Training’. 27Pre-employment training 27‘Other Training’ at Level Two and above 29Timing 29

8. Targets and Entitlements 30Targets 30Entitlements 32

9. Promotion of Apprenticeship 33Factual information 33Branding and targeting 35Celebrating achievement 38

10. Implementation of the Action Plan 40

11. Summary of Recommendations 41

Annex A: Terms of Reference and Membership 49

Annex B: Representations 50

Annex C: Market Research 51

Annex D: Participation by Framework and Gender 56

Annex E: Timetable for Implementation 57

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CONTENTS

AMA Advanced Modern Apprenticeship, requiring an NVQ at level 3.

BTEC Business and Technology Education Council, a body which awardsqualifications.

Cohort A year group of young people. Usually they are described in terms of‘academic’ age, i.e. ‘16 year-olds’ refers to those whose 16th birthday fell in theprevious academic year (between 1 September and 31 August).

DfES Department for Education and Skills

E2E ‘Entry to Employment’, a new programme recommended by the Committee.

FMA Foundation Modern Apprenticeship, requiring an NVQ at level 2.

GCSE General Certificate of Secondary Education

GNVQ General National Vocational Qualification, available at intermediate (level 2)and foundation (level 1). The Advanced GNVQ (level 3) has recently beenconverted to vocational A levels by splitting a previously two-A level equivalentsyllabus into two.

Initial Assessment The process of determining for a given individual, before or on entry to training,what qualification aims will be appropriate and what particular traininginterventions will be needed in order to achieve them.

Key Skills Generic skills of: communication; application of number; informationtechnology; working with others; improving own learning and performance; andproblem solving. The first three require both evidence of actual application andthe passing of external tests. Some GCSE and other existing qualifications act as‘proxies’ to permit exemption from the tests or application elements, or both.

LLSC Local Learning and Skills Council

LSC Learning and Skills Council

Modern A set of requirements drawn up by an NTO which need to be fulfilled for the Apprenticeship recognition of training as a modern apprenticeship in the sector concerned. Framework

NTO National Training Organisation, a body recognised by the government as beingcompetent to speak for an industrial or occupational sector on skill needs, bothquantitatively and qualitatively.

NVQ National Vocational Qualification, testing practical competence on-the-job.

OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

OFSTED Office for Standards in Education

QCA Qualifications and Curriculum Authority

Technical Certificate A qualification testing specialised occupational knowledge, directed – unlikeNVQs – at off-the-job rather than on-the-job training.

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GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SPECIALISED TERMS

1.1 The Modern Apprenticeship AdvisoryCommittee was appointed in March 2001 toadvise the Secretary of State for Education andEmployment, and the Learning and Skills Council(LSC), on an action plan ‘for the development,promotion and delivery of modernapprenticeships’. Our full terms of reference areat Annex A, as is our membership.

1.2 We met five times during the course of ourwork. We were glad to receive papers andpresentations on various aspects of modernapprenticeships from the Department forEducation and Skills (DfES), the LSC, the AdultLearning Inspectorate, the Qualifications andCurriculum Authority (QCA) and the ConnexionsService National Unit. We invited and receivedcomments and representations from theorganisations set out in Annex B, for which we aregrateful. Our chairman and secretariat havevisited a number of interested individuals andorganisations, including local LSC offices, theConnexions Service, and employers andproviders currently offering apprenticeship and

other work-based training. We have madeextensive use of statistics and evaluation reportson modern apprenticeships produced by theDfES.

1.3 We commissioned two special pieces ofwork to inform this report. First, Dr Hilary Steedmanof the Centre for Economic Performance of theLondon School of Economics prepared for us areport on apprenticeship in different Europeancountries to enable us to discern what might beregarded as ‘world class’ standards. Second, wecommissioned, through the Central Office ofInformation, both quantitative and qualitativestudies of attitudes to modern apprenticeship onthe part of employers, young people, parents,careers teachers and careers advisers togetherwith professional advice on a marketing strategy.As well as informing this report, the results of thisresearch have been passed to the DfES for futurereference. These pieces of work together with thecosts of our secretariat involved expenditure ofsome £250,000.

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1. INTRODUCTION

This report is primarily about delivery. It containsmany detailed recommendations which arehighlighted in bold in the sections that follow,and listed for ease of reference at the end of thereport. We make no apologies for the number ofrecommendations. Successful implementationconsists of doing many small things right.However, the scope and detail of therecommendations does mean that we needinitially to set out what we want to achieve andwhy, and how the sections that follow will help toachieve it. This is what this Section does.

An apprenticeship systemApprenticeships build skills. They do so throughincorporating three particular features which,together, distinguish them from most other formsof education and training. First, they involve on-the-job training, which gives trainees experienceof the day-to-day pressures and conventions ofworking life. Second, they enable a young personto earn while learning. This is an enormouslyattractive feature to young people who do notwant to study full-time and would otherwise notlearn, and quite possibly not work either. Third,and linked to this, they closely involve employers;this gives individual firms an opportunity tofashion the training of apprentices to their ownrequirements, and gives apprentices the chancenot only to train but also to engage in acontinuing relationship with an employer.

These features of apprenticeship point to theadvantages that a healthy nationalapprenticeship system brings. It boosts skill levels,particularly in the intermediate skills which haveso often been lacking in this country. It helps newentrants to the labour market to find employersas well as learn skills; this is a particularly helpfulfeature when – as is the case in England –significant numbers of young people are at themargins of the labour market. And it provides amode of learning as valid as full-time educationbut radically different from it in style, and so canretain in learning people who would otherwisedrop out of it.

As we discuss in Section 3, recent reforms shouldmean that we now have the makings of an

apprenticeship system which will compare wellwith leading international practice. Whenimplemented it will have the following principalfeatures:

First, it will be understood as a national systemby adhering to a clear and acceptednational framework defining basic standardsand capable of being readily understood bythe people who use it.

Second, it will consist of an integrated mixtureof specific occupational competence,underpinning vocational knowledge andgeneral skills attested by widely recogniseddiplomas at foundation and advanced level.

Third, it will be led by employers, boththrough their collective determination of thecontents of apprenticeship in differentsectors, and through their activeparticipation individually in providingopportunities.

Fourth, it will positively invite involvement byhelping employers to take part on the basisof well-defined support arrangements and byproviding young people and their parentswith straightforward information, togetherwith expert assistance for those who needhelp before they can enter anapprenticeship.

Fifth, it will be integrated within the nationaleducation system and the labour market,forming a bridge between the two. It willencourage progression from secondaryeducation through a clear entitlement toapprenticeship, and foster progression tohigher education through curricular linkagesto degrees as well as financial aid toindividuals. At the same time it will be a majorsupplier of intermediate skills to the labourmarket. The diagram represents what weenvisage.

Last, it will in time lead to widespreadparticipation by young people inapprenticeships. We believe it realistic to aimto achieve within ten years an annual intakeinto apprenticeship of 35% of young peopleunder 22. Success will strengthen ourworkforce skills where too often they have

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2. OVERVIEW

page 6

been weak, and it will put us broadly on apar with many Continental countries with arespectable apprenticeship tradition.

The result of a truly national system on these lineswill be:

• It will confirm apprenticeship as a major routefor young people to further their aspirations forcareers which make the most of their abilitieswhile gaining a technical education whichopens doors into higher education andprofessional work.

• It will involve the widest possible range ofparticipants in the apprenticeship system: theyoung people involved will range from thoseneeding help to establish themselves securelyin the labour market to those already holdingadvanced qualifications who aspire totechnician, professional and managerialoccupations; the employers taking part will

range from firms with well established trainingsystems to small firms which, while able to offerexcellent opportunities for young people, willneed considerable help in arranging a fullapprenticeship programme; and professionalsupport to the apprenticeship system willinclude advisors to young people in theConnexions Service, established FE collegesand specialist training organisations, with thevoluntary sector providing its expertise,particularly in helping disadvantaged youngpeople to access the system.

• It will be widely respected: by employers whowill see apprenticeship as an essentialmechanism for the long-term resourcing oftheir businesses; by young people and theirparents who will see it as an attractive bridgeto valued careers; and by government whowill see the apprenticeship system as anessential element in ensuring a skilled andeducated workforce.

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

Full timeSecondary

Higher Education

Entry toEmployment

Foundationapprenticeship

Advancedapprenticeship

Full timeCollege orVI formth

SkilledOperative

Multi/highly skilledSupervisory

ProfessionalManagement

Ages are rough guides only= major flow = minor flow

Age Education Apprenticeship Employment

There is much to do to bring this about. Aboveall, three inter-related problems, which wedescribe in Section 3, stand in the way:inconsistent delivery; poor management of thesystem; and lack of information for potentialbeneficiaries. We then go on, in Sections 4-10 todescribe the system we propose, building onwhat already exists. We believe that, by providingconsistency, simplifying administration andensuring predictable financial support, this systemwill secure the enduring commitment ofemployers that is needed to generate a lastingsupply of employer places.

Building an apprenticeship systemThere is at present a lack of clarity about thefundamental content that every apprenticeshipshould contain. This leads not only toinconsistency in delivery, but to inconsistency ofexpectation by young people and employers. InSection 4 we set out a national framework forapprenticeship which makes clear the basiccontent and expected durations ofapprenticeship at the foundation and advancedlevels, together with the commitments andresponsibilities of the principal parties.

Much work is already in train on building thecontent of apprenticeship frameworks, followingthe government’s reforms which were confirmedearlier this year. We make proposals for someminor adjustments in Section 5, stress theimportance of capturing achievement in widelyrecognised diplomas issued by NTOs and makeproposals for ensuring progression routes tohigher education. We also point to the need forcontinuous improvement, led by the LSC, andidentify areas where immediate and sustaineddevelopment work is needed in order to addressgenuine problems which are causing difficultieswith delivery.

Section 6 deals with the management of theapprenticeship system. The delivery system forapprenticeship is currently fragmented and ill-defined. The advent of the LSC offers majoropportunities for establishing it on a clear andfirm basis. We emphasise the roles of the nationaland local LSCs in promotion and continuous

improvement. We also recommend a structure forlocal delivery, building on what already exists, butwith clearer delineation of the different modes ofdelivery, of the criteria that should apply to them,and of the funding methods suitable for each.Employers who take responsibility for arrangingan entire apprenticeship programme form animportant and, we hope, expanding category;they should be offered flexibility of funding andsimplicity of administration. But we recognise theneed for high quality support arrangements,through Apprenticeship Agents, for employers –particularly small firms – who do not have thecapacity to arrange all aspects of a programme.We propose two forms of Apprenticeship Agent:one offering clearly defined services foremployers who wish to recruit apprentices butwho need help in offering a full programme; andthe other providing a more gradual transition foryoung people and employers who need time tobuild their mutual commitments.

Though we envisage an apprenticeship systemwhich, like the best on the Continent, includes awide range of young people of different ability,we recognise that help will be needed for someyoung people who are not able to cope with thedemands of apprenticeship. In Section 7 wepropose an Entry to Employment programme,with distinctive expertise and funding whichwould specialise in preparing young peopleidentified as needing help either to enter anapprenticeship or, if this is not a realisticaspiration, to settle into other stable employment.

Our longer term aim of securing that 35% ofyoung people progress through apprenticeship istranslated in Section 8 into a more immediatetarget for 2004 of 28%, or 175,000, young peopleentering apprenticeship between the ages of 16and 21. To achieve this in the next three years willrequire considerable effort from the LSC andothers to secure the necessary capacity, whichmay require some 130,000 additional places withemployers. The indications, though, are thatthese are obtainable; some of them in factalready exist within the system of work-basedtraining, though not currently of fullapprenticeship quality.

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The establishment of consistent quality within anational framework and the expansion of placeswill enable the government, in our view, tointroduce an entitlement to an apprenticeshipplace for all 16 and 17 year-olds who have five ormore GCSEs at A-G, including maths and English.This threshold will be necessary to ensure thatyoung people with an entitlement have the basicskills to cope with the new technical certificates,though those below this level will be able toqualify for the entitlement through the Entry toEmployment programme. Those within theentitlement group who secure places asadvanced modern apprentices either directly orafter graduating from the Foundation ModernApprenticeship should be entitled to funding. Thisentitlement should be introduced in 2004.

Our market research has shown that youngpeople and their parents lack in-depthknowledge about modern apprenticeships.Nothing solid can be achieved without muchimproved factual information about particularapprenticeships, the careers they lead to andlocal opportunities to participate. We makedetailed proposals for action in Section 9.Employers – including, importantly, small firms –need to be engaged in a far wider and deeperway than at present, through more easilyaccessible information, support byApprenticeship Agents and the involvement ofemployer organisations. Trade unions, too, canmake an important contribution to stimulating thesupply of apprenticeship places. Drawing onprofessional advice, we make proposals for

a major national marketing campaign over thenext three years, the cost of which is likely to bein the region of £16m (rather less than 1% of thecost of the programme). We also recommendmore widespread celebration of success inapprenticeship, involving award ceremonies,skills competitions, and explicit recognition forparticipating employers.

Finally, arrangements will be needed to keep thisaction plan under review. In Section 10 wepropose an independent advisory boardestablished by the Secretary of State and the LSCto monitor progress against the plan and tosuggest necessary adjustments to it, reportingperiodically in public. Once apprenticeship ismore firmly established, we suggest that thegovernment should consider putting its principalinstitutions on a statutory basis.

We are conscious that the recommendations wemake add up to a formidable agenda for thepeople and organisations that need to takeaction, particularly for the new Learning and SkillsCouncil to whom the majority fall. We believe,though, that the LSC will relish and rise to this task;after all, one of the principal purposes of itscreation is to bring together many of thepreviously disparate efforts in developingapprenticeship and post-16 education andtraining more widely. The building of an effectiveapprenticeship system in England is in our viewprecisely the kind of task for which it wasestablished.

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3. WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO DO, AND HOW ARE WE DOING?

1 The OECD have noted that “while the French adjective “professional” and the German word “Beruf” include all types and levelsof employment the English term “professional” relates only to upper level occupations and, in particular, the liberal professions.”

2 Skills for all: Research Report from the National Skills Task Force, 2000, Table 4.2, p63.

3 OECD (2000) From Initial Education to Working Life, Table 2.8. Germany was not included in this study.

What is apprenticeship?3.1 Before we start to discuss apprenticeship, weneed a working definition of what it is, and whatdistinguishes it from other forms of education andtraining. The following seem to us to be thecharacteristics of an apprenticeship, as adistinctive form of personal development:

• an employer agrees to train a person, usingthe practices, equipment and personnel of hisor her enterprise in doing so;

• a mixture of on- and off-the-job learning isinvolved; and,

• the completion of apprenticeship leads topublic recognition that the apprentice hasachieved proficiency in a trade, profession oroccupation.

This definition applies also to a number of forms ofprofessional training in this country. That serves toemphasise the point that apprenticeship is closelyallied to professional formation1. In practiceapprenticeship tends to apply to the‘intermediate’ skill levels at NVQs 2-4, but there issense in seeing apprenticeship and professionalformation as a continuum.

Why is apprenticeship desirable?3.2 Our terms of reference do not require us tomake the case for apprenticeship, and it is plainfrom the circumstances of the establishment ofthis committee that the government is convincedof the merits of apprenticeship and wishes to seeit expand and prosper. We are in full agreement.It is worth stating briefly the main advantages ofhaving a strong apprenticeship system as we seethem:

• An apprenticeship system directly addressesthe formation of intermediate skills within theeconomy – something that the Skills Task Forcehas shown to be a particular weakness. Thetask force found2 that in the UK the proportionof 25-28 year olds holding vocational

qualifications at level 2 or above was one-thirdless than in France and Germany, and wastwo-thirds less than in Germany at level 3 andabove. Not only does apprenticeship directlytrain people in the skills needed by individualfirms, a national system of apprenticeshipensures that the skills are more transferable andless wholly firm-specific than would be thecase if employers trained only for their ownneeds. Additionally, by giving widespreadnational recognition an apprenticeship systemincreases the motivation of individuals to gainthese skills and to have the resulting mobility ina changing labour market. To developrelevant skills, it is clearly important thatapprenticeship standards are closely alignedto the demands of industry.

• Apprenticeships ease the critical but oftendifficult process of transition betweeneducation and work for young people. Inparticular, they reduce the propensity foryoung people to suffer unemployment andconsequent social dislocation in their earlyadult years. A recent OECD study shows thatthe youth to adult unemployment ratioremains low in countries with strongapprenticeship systems, such as Austria,Denmark and Switzerland, as the followingtable of ratios of youth to adultunemployment shows3.

Austria 1.6

Denmark 1.6

Finland 2.3

Norway 4.1

Sweden 2.2

Switzerland 1.7

United Kingdom 2.4

United States 3.0

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Aiding transition into the labour marketunderlines the need for apprenticeship placesto be available to those who leave schoolwith few qualifications as well as to those whoare better qualified.

• Apprenticeship is a means of continuingeducation while in the labour market. Not onlydoes this mean that young people can ‘earnand learn’, it also generates enthusiasm forlearning as it is plain that this is relevant toimmediate challenges at work and for futurecareer development. Successful experiencesin apprenticeship encourage people toundertake further learning during their workinglives. To this end it is important thatapprenticeship includes high quality formallearning and that this can lead on to higherlevels of occupational and professionalqualifications.

3.3 Apprenticeship has a long tradition in thiscountry. It is plain from our market research(reported at Annex C) that its maincharacteristics and advantages are widelyappreciated, even by many people who haveno direct experience of it. This is a strongfoundation on which to build, but also one whichcan be eroded if expectations are not fulfilled.

International standards3.4 Our terms of reference invited us torecommend how modern apprenticeships might‘match the standards set by leading nationsworld-wide’. Characteristics common to thoseEuropean countries with the most successfulapprenticeship arrangements are:

• high proportions of young people enteringapprenticeship, drawn from a wide range ofschool leavers, including both low attainersand those with school qualificationsequivalent to A levels;

• a clear structure to apprenticeship, withrecognised durations, established byemployers and unions collectively;

• a key role ascribed to employers, withmechanisms for them readily to take part, andservices to support them in conductingapprenticeship;

• clear obligations and structures for off-the-jobeducation and training, linked to the widerstructure of upper secondary education, withwritten examinations contributing towards theaward of apprenticeship qualifications;

• apprentice wages at a low level compared tothose of adults, restricting the costs to firms,and allowing them economically to providetraining; and

• good information about apprenticeshipoccupations and places, enabling most youngpeople to find their own opportunities within awell-known system.

3.5 Clearly, with different institutions, traditionsand social expectations in England not all ofthese characteristics can, or should, be replicatedhere. Nevertheless we consider that many can –and moreover that the necessary structures in thiscountry either exist or are in prospect.

3.6 Under the original modern apprenticeshipinitiative and particularly with the developmentsannounced by the government earlier this year4,we consider that many of the features ofinternational best practice can now, in principle,be developed in Britain, including:

• arrangements whereby industry sectorscollectively determine the content andstandards of apprenticeships, through theNational Training Organisations;

• the introduction of foundation modernapprenticeships which offers the prospect ofincluding a far wider range of young peoplethan was possible under the original‘advanced’ programme on its own;

• the explicit inclusion of relevant technicaleducation which is conducted off-the-job andsubject to external assessment through thenew technical certificates;

4 Contained in Modern Apprenticeships, Consultation Document, DfEE 2000 and confirmed in Modern Apprenticeships,Consultation Response, DfEE 2001

• measures to ensure the continuation ofaspects of general education throughdemands for key skills within apprenticeship;

• means of supporting employers in the deliveryof apprenticeship through networks ofspecialised agents familiar with theprocedures; and

• means of advising young people aboutapprenticeship opportunities through the newConnexions Service.

If these aspects are made to work, and becomegenerally accepted and understood, we believethat we can in time develop an apprenticeshipsystem which stands comparison with those inleading nations. The challenge lies inimplementation.

Our current position3.7 Despite our apprenticeship tradition, Englanddoes not currently have a strong apprenticeshipsystem. It stood in danger of not having anapprenticeship system at all following the collapseof much of the previous system in the 1970s and1980s. Wider than this, it is plain that there hasbeen a long-term secular decline in the use ofwork-based learning as a component ofimmediate post-16 learning, as the chart shows:

In the chart ‘training’ is by no means synonymouswith apprenticeship; it includes measures such asthe Youth Training Scheme of the 1980s andtraining supported entirely by employers whichwe know is often limited in scope5.

3.8 As a proportion of the total numbersundertaking government-supported work-basedtraining, modern apprenticeship has increasedfrom 60% in March 1999 to 80% in March 2001.Overall, over a fifth of young people now enter amodern apprenticeship before the age of 22(nearly half of whom undertake an AMA).Nevertheless, with the low base of work-basedtraining as a whole, and the wide spread of agesat which individuals enter, there is a real sense inwhich apprenticeship remains marginal within oureducation and training system. In particular:

• Learning while working is a relatively rareexperience for the typical teenager,undertaken by only about 1 in 6 at seventeen.This absence of a ‘critical mass’ is animportant factor when it comes to offeringapprenticeship to young people, who oftenstart from the point of view that embarking onan apprenticeship is a rather unconventionalchoice within their peer group.

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Participation of 17 year olds in education and training

x x x x x x x x x x x

Full time education

Not in education/training nor at work xTraining

At work or in part time education

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

%a

ge

of a

ge

gro

up

5 Work-Based Training for Young People, by Joan Payne (DfES Research Report RR276, 2001) shows that young people inemployment and receiving training from their employers have limited courses (p. 27), usually not leading to a qualification (p. 47).

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• Despite the introduction of modernapprenticeships in 1995, and the increase inthe quality of training that this involved, work-based learning has not increased in terms ofup-take amongst 16-17 year olds, even if thereis growing interest by 18-23 year olds and theiremployers.

• The advent of modern apprenticeships has notnoticeably affected the proportion of youngpeople who do not participate in educationand training and who are not at work, even ata time when jobs generally have beenplentiful.

3.9 It is marginal in another sense. Only aroundhalf young people entering apprenticeshipcomplete it, even in the limited sense of gainingthe NVQ associated with it. The latest data show6

attainment rates of 49% for advanced modernapprenticeships and 41% for the more recentfoundation stream. We have been told thatconsiderably fewer complete the full currentmodel, including the required key skills, though nofigures are kept on full completions.

3.10 To an extent non-completion results fromchanges of choice by young people,dissatisfaction by the young person with theemployer or vice-versa, and from business orpersonal circumstances. However over a quarterof ‘early leavers’ remain with the same employerthat originally offered the apprenticeship, and afurther 20% go to different employers thoughdoing the same kind of work7. The great majorityof early leavers appear to have enjoyed theirtime on apprenticeship, thought they hadlearned a lot, and have secured employment.Despite these positive experiences, though, itseems that in many cases little value is attached,either by young people or employers, to the fullapprenticeship. It appears to be a helpful vehicleto attain their ends, but marginal in terms of arecognised structure for training and the

completion of education. Indeed many youngpeople and employers participating inapprenticeship have little notion of therequirements of the apprenticeship framework inthe first place. It seems that in many casesparticipation by both the main parties is on asomewhat informal basis.

3.11 It does not have to be like this. In Germanysome two-thirds of the age-group enterapprenticeships and the great majority completethem successfully. In Denmark about a third ofyoung people enter apprenticeships and some90% complete their programmes. In Francerecent reforms have reversed a long-termdecline in apprenticeship numbers.

3.12 Since 1998, modern apprenticeships havebeen subject to inspection, along with moregeneral work-based training funded by thegovernment. There are clearly examples of verygood practice, but too often inspectors uncoverpatently poor arrangements. Common problemswith apprenticeships include weak initialassessment and induction; key skills tackled onlyat the end of courses (and therefore for earlyleavers often missed entirely); failure to takeadvantage of the opportunities for on-the-jobtraining and assessment, often through poorliaison with employers who are not well informedabout what is needed; and lack of informationabout, or interest in, achievement andcompletion rates. It is instructive that well overhalf of programmes inspected containedproblems which were worrying enough to requirere-inspection within a short period; it is even moreinstructive that as many as 90% had remediedthese problems by the time of re-inspection.8

Again, it clearly does not have to be like this; thelesson would seem to be that with goodfeedback and good management, problemscan be rapidly resolved.

6 DfES Statistical First Release 28/2001.

7 Modern Apprenticeships: Exploring the Reasons for Non-completion in Five Sectors, IFF Research (DfEE Research Report RR217, 2000).

8 Reaching New Standards, Annual Report of the Chief Inspector 2000-2001, Training Standards Council

3.13 Information about apprenticeship ischronically lacking throughout the system:

• Many NTOs do not know which providers oftraining are offering apprenticeships to theirspecifications – this means that they cannotcommunicate with them about updates oftheir frameworks, still less consult them.

• No-one, outside the network of providers,knows which employers are participating – thismeans that marketing efforts are hampered,recognition cannot be given, andcommunication needs to be indirect.

• Many apprentices do not even know that theyare apprentices9 – they can hardly act aschampions, stick up for their rights, or beaware when they have or have notcompleted.

• Though 63% of young people aged 14-17claim to be aware of modern apprenticeships,and a similar proportion of their parents, it isapparent from our qualitative research thatfew have a concrete idea of what is involved,or how to access a place. Much the same istrue of employers. Only 28% of parentsbelieved that the option of apprenticeshiphad been presented to their child.

• Nobody knows how many people completeapprenticeships, so that determining theextent of success or steering remedial action isnot possible in any methodical manner.

There is also some confusion about the role of theorganisations that provide assessment, off-the-jobtraining and other services to employers andyoung people to facilitate apprenticeships. Theseorganisations are commonly known as ‘trainingproviders’, but as we say in Section 6, we believethat, so far as apprenticeships are concerned,they are more appropriately termed ‘agents’.Their role is to advise and assist the parties to theapprenticeship, not to act as independentprincipals. The term ‘agent’ avoids anymisunderstanding vis-à-vis the role of employerswho are, of course, the actual providers ofapprenticeships.

Conclusion3.14 We have, therefore, the elements, eithercurrently or shortly in prospect, of anapprenticeship system which will stand comparisonwith those in the rest of Europe. At its best, evennow, it can and does result in attainment by youngpeople of excellent standards. But currently it isfrankly marginal to the national life. The reasons it isso are that it has been:

• inconsistently delivered;

• poorly managed; and

• poorly known about and understood.

These are all things which can be remedied, andthe remainder of this report contains ourrecommendations for doing so.

3.15 The following three themes underlie ourthinking in tackling these issues:

• A firmer notion of the essential elements ofapprenticeship needs to be promulgated. Thiswill aid public understanding and set helpfulparameters around the management of thesystem. In the next section, therefore, wepropose a national framework forapprenticeship.

• For similar reasons, there needs to be clearerunderstanding of the means for delivering andsupporting apprenticeships.

• Accurate and useful information aboutapprenticeship needs to be widelydisseminated, particularly to young people,their parents and advisers, and to employers.

These all concern building the nationalinfrastructure for the delivery of apprenticeship.The advent of the Learning and Skills Council, withits unified national remit, means that reforms andimprovements have the prospect of beingsystematically carried through. Though, in line withour terms of reference, we propose targets forparticipation in apprenticeship three years hence,we are all agreed that the task of establishing atruly modern apprenticeship system which makesthe full contribution to national life of which it iscapable will take a decade or more.

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9 Modern Apprenticeships: a survey report by the Training Standards Council, 2000, p10

4. A NATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR APPRENTICESHIPS

4.1 Apprenticeship is simple in concept. But itinvolves a wide range of parties: young peopleand those who advise them; employers and theagencies that support them; trade unions;institutions which provide relevant off-the-jobtraining; national organisations concerned withsetting standards and recognition; and also, ofcourse, government as both funders andregulators of the system as a whole. Given thisarray of legitimate interests and interlocking rolesit is important that there should be a clearnational framework to define the parameters andessential content of the system. In this section, wefirst set out the essential points in such aframework, which we hope reflects muchcommonly accepted ground, and then discusscertain aspects which go a little beyond existingpolicy.

The framework4.2 Policy and financial responsibility. Ultimatelypolicy and financial responsibility for the supportof modern apprenticeships rests with theDepartment for Education and Skills as thegovernment department responsible for thewhole State education and training system inEngland. We recommend, however, that theprime responsibility for developing, promotingand delivering modern apprenticeships shouldbe assigned by the Department to the Learningand Skills Council (LSC), which should beaccountable to the Department for itsperformance and should annually secure thesupport of the Department for its forward plans.

4.3 Continuous improvement. The LSC and its 47Local Learning and Skills Councils (LLSCs) will thushave a pivotal role in securing the success ofmodern apprenticeships. This will extend farbeyond merely running an effectiveadministrative machine: it will be concerned withthe continuing improvement of quality judgednot only by British but by international standards,with promotion (especially to employers andyoung people), with high quality delivery andwith the wider effectiveness of arrangementsboth nationally and locally. The LSC and the

LLSCs must be appropriately staffed andorganised to carry out this role, which will requirea positive attitude to innovation and adetermination to learn continuously from bothsuccesses and weaknesses in implementation.

4.4 The national framework for modernapprenticeships. Absolutely central to everysuccessful apprenticeship is the relationshipbetween each employer and apprentice. Thishas not always been understood since theintroduction of modern apprenticeships and thetime has come for the LSC to establish a nationalframework for modern apprenticeships which willclarify their nature and strengthen the basicrelationship between employer and apprentice.This will need to cover the following ground:

Apprenticeship agreement. Every modernapprenticeship should involve a signedapprenticeship agreement between anemployer1 and an apprentice. Before signingthe agreement employers should satisfythemselves of the ability of applicants tocomplete the apprenticeship successfully, andapplicants should be fully aware of thecommitment entailed by apprenticeship.

Apprenticeship Agents. The employer mayseek the help of an Apprenticeship Agentregistered with the LSC in carrying outresponsibilities set out in the framework.Apprenticeship Agents should acceptthroughout an apprenticeship that their role isto advise and assist the parties to theapprenticeship, but not to act as independentprincipals.

Probation. The first eight weeks ofapprenticeship should be regarded as aperiod of probation, and the apprenticeshipagreement may be terminated by either partywithout notice or imputation of bad faithduring that period.

Individual training plan. At the start of theapprenticeship the employer should agree

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1 This may include employers acting collectively.

with the apprentice an individual training plancovering the period of the apprenticeship. Theplan will provide for both on-the-job trainingwith the employer and off-the-job learningarranged either by the employer or anApprenticeship Agent.

National Training Organisations (NTOs). Therequirements for entry to an apprenticeshipand the attainments required for successfulcompletion of an apprenticeship should belaid down by NTOs for the sectors in whichapprenticeships are provided. NTOs shouldcomply with the following requirements inrelation to apprenticeships for which they areresponsible.

a. Foundation Modern Apprenticeships(FMAs). Age of entry should be 16-19(unless the Connexions or EmploymentServices have specifically endorsed oldertrainees as being able to benefit).Guidance on the attainment needed foracceptance for entry to an FMA should bea matter to be decided by the NTO. Normalduration of an FMA should be specified bythe NTO, but the minimum durationacceptable for completion should be atleast one year. The minimum standard forsuccessful completion should beattainment of NVQ level 2 in the relevantoccupation, plus satisfactory off-the-jobattainments, i.e. key skills designated bythe NTO (at least at level 1 in number andcommunication)2 and the relevanttechnical certificate (or attainmentsaccepted as equivalent or better by theNTO). Successful completion should securethe award of a Foundation ModernApprenticeship Diploma by the NTO.

b. Advanced Modern Apprenticeships(AMAs). Age of entry, 16-24. Guidance onthe attainment needed for acceptance forentry to an AMA should be a matter to bedecided by the NTO. This should normallyadmit those who have successfully

completed a relevant FMA. The normalduration of an AMA should be laid down bythe NTO, but the minimum durationacceptable for completion should be twoyears. The minimum standard for successfulcompletion should be attainment of NVQlevel 3 in the relevant occupation, plussatisfactory off-the-job attainments, i.e. keyskills designated by the NTO (at least atlevel 2 in number and communication) andthe relevant technical certificate (orattainments accepted as equivalent orbetter by the NTO). Successful completionshould secure the award of an AdvancedModern Apprenticeship Diploma by theNTO. There should be provision for anaccelerated option within the AMA, with aduration of not less than one year, for 18-24year old entrants who have alreadyattained the key skills laid down for AMAs inthe occupation concerned.

Flexibility in duration of modernapprenticeships. The requirements inparagraphs (a) and (b) make possible someflexibility in the duration of apprenticeships. It isnot intended that the minimum periods shouldautomatically be regarded as the goal of fastlearners. Longer periods may be desirable toensure that learning is consolidated andmade secure by practice. The opportunitycan also be taken for a fast learner toincrease the amount learned (and recordedin the apprenticeship diploma), for exampleby taking an additional NVQ (customerservice is an obvious possibility) or learning aforeign language, and this should beencouraged. For a slower learner, or for anapprentice who has to re-take a test, it shouldbe possible for the period of apprenticeship tobe extended by agreement betweenemployer and apprentice (and, where thereare funding consequences, the LLSC).

Equal opportunities. There is already in existencea Modern Apprenticeships Equal OpportunitiesAction Plan, which was launched in June 2000.

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2 We discuss key skills requirements at paragraphs 5.4 and 5.5.

The national framework should affirm support forthe plan and its implementation should bevigorously followed up by the LSC and LLSCs.There is a need to encourage and helpmembers of ethnic minorities to take advantageof apprenticeship opportunities and also tobreak down often long-standing genderstereotyping that prevents young people fromentering apprenticeships in occupations forwhich they have the necessary aptitudes.

Registration with LLSCs and NTOs. Everyapprenticeship should be registered by theLSC. It is obviously necessary for each LLSC tokeep accurate track of apprenticeships whichit supports and for which it bears financialresponsibility. Access to the register isnecessary for the Connexions Service, whichwill wish to be sure how young people whomthey have advised are progressing.Apprenticeship Agents should also register theapprenticeships they support with the relevantNTOs. NTOs will wish to monitor the progress ofthe apprenticeships for which they areresponsible and also to be able to notifyemployers of any changes in the requirementsrelating to apprenticeships in their sector. Thenational framework should make this clear.

Higher education. Finally, the nationalframework should refer to the opportunities forapprentices to progress into higher education,whether immediately after or even during anadvanced modern apprenticeship. Thedevelopment of Foundation Degrees will openup many new opportunities for able youngpeople who have completed an advancedmodern apprenticeship, and this needs to bewidely known, not only by young peoplecontemplating apprenticeships, but also by allwho have the responsibility of advising them,including their parents.

Commentary4.5 This framework contains some features whichextend beyond current policy, and we shouldoffer our reasons for proposing these. All are inthe interests of providing rather firmer structuresthan are currently established:

• There will be merit in establishing a nationallyconsistent probationary period. There wouldappear to be a range of practices at present,with the result that some apprentices on theFMA enter in a non-employed capacity, andcontinue in this manner for all or most of theirapprenticeship. An accepted probationaryperiod should make it feasible for apprenticesto attain employed status after probation,enabling those for whom this may not beoffered, or who determine that they are notsuited to the occupation in question, to find analternative position sooner rather than later.

• We propose an upper age limit of 19 for entryto the FMA. Young people without the entryrequirements for an AMA will need to start onthe foundation stage by that age if they areto have the prospect of progressing, and wedoubt that an FMA on its own will be likely toadd significantly to the attainment orprospects of young people beyond the age of19. We envisage, though, that older traineesmight enter if the Connexions or EmploymentServices specifically endorse that they wouldbe likely to benefit.

• We propose minimum durations of one andtwo years respectively for completion of theFMA and the AMA, but NTOs can be expectedto recommend longer periods as normal.

• We propose a specific option for acceleratedAMAs for those over 18 who already possessthe key skills required for a framework. Thisshould encourage able young people leavingschool or college at 18 to take anapprenticeship with the prospect of earlyaccess to a diploma, act as a spur to rapidskill acquisition by such people, and give themincentives to attain the necessary key skillsearlier on.

• Once apprenticeships for younger people arewell established, the government shouldconsider the case for opening AMAs to suitablyqualified or experienced adults who wouldwish to undertake an apprenticeship toacquire the skills they need to secure orchange their jobs.

Other aspects and consequences of theframework are elaborated later in this report.

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5.1 Our terms of reference invite to us to makerecommendations on how to increase theknowledge and understanding that youngpeople gain as part of their modernapprenticeship, and how to ensure that themodern apprenticeship diploma is valued andrelevant. In the course of our work we also noteda number of areas where development work intraining methods was particularly needed.Content of apprenticeship

5.2 The government has taken steps to increasesignificantly the amount of knowledge andunderstanding covered in apprenticeship. It hasdone this through the requirements for key skills,made considerably more rigorous throughexternal testing, and for technical certificatesembodying explicit vocational knowledge, againexternally assessed, in each apprenticeshipframework. As we say in Section 3, we considerthat the successful implementation of these newelements will mean that apprenticeships inEngland will stand comparison with those inleading apprenticeship nations. We now makesome remarks about each of the threequalification components of apprenticeship, thenational vocational qualification (NVQ), key skillsand the technical certificate.

5.3 In general NVQs give a satisfactory base ofstandards for the important on-the-job elementsof apprenticeship. Naturally they need to beupdated from time to time and this is animportant task for NTOs. We are aware, though,that some large employers have on-the-jobtraining and appraisal schemes which are builton the same principles as NVQs, but which aretailored to their own enterprises. We recognisethat it is disruptive for such employers to have totrain to a slightly different set of competences forthat small minority of staff who are apprentices.We recommend therefore that employers whohave a direct contract with the LSC for modernapprenticeships should be able to train to theirown scheme where this has been approved bythe NTO as being at the same level, or more

demanding, than the NVQ required in theframework. Such ‘approved schemes’ shouldinvolve periodic external verification of systemsand a sample of individual results in the samemanner as an NVQ, conducted by an awardingbody familiar with such procedures. An individualwould therefore be eligible for an apprenticeshipdiploma where he or she had been appraisedunder an approved scheme and gained therelevant technical certificate and key skills.Training under an approved scheme would not,however, result in the issue of an NVQ – firmsconsidering an approach would need toconsider whether the lack of an offer of an NVQmight constrain their recruitment of able youngpeople. We would restrict this facility to firms witha direct contract of apprenticeship since theseemployers evidently wish to imbedapprenticeship into their long-term humanresource management systems; companieswhich participate through an agent may not beable to make that commitment, and, withrelatively few apprentices, the young peopleconcerned may not be well served by being theonly ones within a larger group who do not havean NVQ.

5.4 In devising their frameworks, NTOs determinewhich key skills to require. However, for an AMAthe achievement of the level 2 key skillsqualifications in communication and applicationof number is the minimum for any framework forthose trainees who have not attained a grade Cin GCSE in maths and English. The same shouldhold in respect of level 1 key skills for the FMA fortrainees who have not gained a pass in GCSEmaths and English (as we propose at paragraph4.4). We recognise that in the case of the FMAthis goes rather further than has so far beenannounced by the government, but we considerthat for the future careers and active citizenshipof young people entering the FMA it is importantthat these basic skills are attained. Of course, thegreat majority of young people will already havethis level of attainment before they enter theFMA.1

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5. THE CONTENT AND CERTIFICATION OF APPRENTICESHIPS

1 The Youth Cohort Study shows that over three-quarters of entrants to the FMA have five or more passes at GCSE, includingmaths and English.

5.5 We are aware that a number of trainingproviders are concerned about the demandsbeing made for key skills, and particularly aboutthe arrangements for external testing. Othersclaim that the so-called ‘wider’ key skills (workingwith others, improving own learning andperformance, and problem-solving) shouldfeature in frameworks, perhaps instead of theskills that do. Subject to the minimum thresholdsset out in the national framework in Section 4,NTOs should be free to lay down which key skills,and at what level, are required for competenceand career progression in their sectors. Withoutwishing to fetter their discretion in doing so, wewould counsel that:

• In the light of the new and rigorous tests forkey skills, NTOs might consider whether in somecases the current threshold for key skillattainment is calibrated too high, bearing inmind that many frameworks were establishedwhen assessment of key skills was entirelyconducted by means of portfolios.

• Before making demands for the explicitcertification for the ‘wider’ key skills (which willadd to the assessment burden), NTOs mightconsider whether demands for these skills arein any case made within the NVQs and otherrequirements of their frameworks.

• Well designed technical certificates willthemselves make demands for relevant keyskills. Where an apprentice needs toundertake a technical certificate whichclearly encompasses, and externally assesses,the skills of application of number orcommunication or both, it will not bereasonable to require them also to take aseparate assessment. We thereforerecommend that where the QCA is satisfied,after proper scrutiny of the requirements of atechnical certificate, that the qualification alsoassesses a particular key skill, young peoplewho gain that technical certificate should berecognised as having also gained the key skillfor the purpose of their apprenticeshipframework and its related diploma.

5.6 Technical certificates offer the prospect bothof significantly upgrading apprenticeships and offorming a basis for able apprentices to progress

to higher education in a subject linked to theirchosen occupation. Managing theirimplementation will be an important task overthe next three years, and it will need to becarefully monitored. There are two aspects to this:first, ensuring that development work proceeds totime in designing the qualifications, together withthe necessary supporting materials and trainingarrangements for the staff who will deliver them;and, second, ensuring that the courses leadingtowards them are actually available locally, sinceit will not be enough to assume that the currentrange of apprenticeship providers will generateor identify such courses on their own. To that endwe recommend that:

• The LSC and the QCA establish a mechanismusing information from NTOs and awardingbodies to track the development of technicalcertificates in each sector, whereby theyregularly notify LLSCs, colleges andApprenticeship Agents of the prospectivetimetable for implementation in the varioussectors.

• LLSCs assure themselves that the capacity willexist in colleges and other specialisedlearning providers to deliver courses leadingto technical certificates in each frameworkoffered in their areas. This should be done onan annual basis using the schedule oftechnical certificates anticipated for thefollowing year.

5.7 In many sectors there are well-establishedcourses of vocational education which will, withminor adaptation, fulfil the aims of the technicalcertificate. In other sectors there is a firm notionof the vocational knowledge which underpinspractice, and that will form the basis for thedevelopment of a technical certificate. But itmay be that in some sectors, there is no suchobvious basis. Rather than rushing to developtechnical certificates ‘out of thin air’, werecommend that NTOs which are in genuinedoubt about what the contents of a technicalcertificate should be should consider nominatinga relevant intermediate GNVQ or vocational ALevel to act as a technical certificate until such atime as they have a solid basis for developing amore specialised qualification, if indeed they find

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that the GNVQ/vocational A level does not servethe purpose.

5.8 It is important that technical certificateswithin the AMA offer the prospect for successfulstudents to progress to relevant higher educationcourses. The QCA should encourage NTOs andawarding bodies to seek advice from highereducation institutions with expertise in theirsectors on what aspects might be incorporatedinto technical certificates in order to facilitateprogression. In similar vein, the DfES shouldencourage higher education institutionsdeveloping foundation degrees to seek advicefrom relevant NTOs so that, where possible, thedegree builds on qualifications earned throughapprenticeship.

5.9 Finally with regard to the content ofapprenticeship, we have considered the case ofable young people who quickly attain theirtechnical certificate and key skills during thecourse of their programme, or indeed havealready attained them before they enter, forexample entrants aged 18 and above who hadcompleted a technical certificate alongside avocational A level while in full-time education. Insuch instances we would hope that they mightstart a higher education course – perhaps afoundation degree or a Higher NationalCertificate – on a part-time basis whileundertaking the on-the-job training necessary fortheir NVQ. We therefore recommend that theConnexions Service and Apprenticeship Agentsshould draw the attention of young people toopportunities for professional study in highereducation related to their apprenticeships andthat where young people have previously gainedthe relevant technical certificate and employersare willing to release them, the LSC should paythe necessary higher education tuition fees forthe first year as an alternative to funding thetechnical certificate to which the young personon apprenticeship would otherwise be entitled. Ifnecessary, statutory powers should be secured toenable the LSC to fund higher education coursesin this manner.

5.10 With the emergence of new industries andoccupational specialisms, together with changes

in the skills demands within existingapprenticeship frameworks, it is important thatthese frameworks and their constituentqualifications should be kept under review byNTOs, both in the light of changes in businessmethods and of experience in implementingapprenticeships. Decisions about whether togenerate a new framework to cover a small andspecialised occupation will not bestraightforward, and there should be nopresumption that each and every occupationshould eventually have an associatedapprenticeship framework. Frameworks whichhave very small numbers of entrants each yearare likely to present difficulties for qualityassurance, and there will be problems in theeconomic delivering of technical certificates andNVQ assessments when numbers of trainees andemployers are very small. Therefore, though therewill be occasions when entire new frameworksare needed, in most cases NTOs should insteadconsider developing optional components withinexisting frameworks in order to accommodatesmall specialised occupations, making use of thecore and option features of NVQs.

Certification5.11 We understand that the QCA will adviselater in the year on the nature and delivery of themodern apprenticeship diploma, and so ourrecommendations on this matter will properly besubject to more detailed consideration by theQCA. However, it is clear from our marketresearch that the prospect of meaningfulqualifications is a very important incentive forthose considering entry to modernapprenticeships. From the point of view ofpromotion and esteem, therefore, it is critical thatthe notion of an overarching diploma forapprenticeships becomes quickly knownamongst young people and their parents, issimply styled to aid rapid national recognition,carries credibility within individual sectors, and iscapable of representing the different attainmentsthat trainees will gain during theirapprenticeships. To achieve this, we recommendthat:

• The credential issued to mark completion ofthe FMA should be known as the ‘Foundation

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Modern Apprenticeship Diploma’ and that forthe AMA should be called the ‘AdvancedModern Apprenticeship Diploma’.

• The diplomas should be issued by, or onbehalf of, NTOs, indicating clearly theframework in which success has been gained,but otherwise conforming to a commonformat.

• The employer or Apprenticeship Agent shouldensure that apprentices continuing beyondthe probationary period are registered with therelevant NTO.

• The diplomas should record the NVQ, key skillsand technical certificate gained as required inthe NTO’s framework, together with the nameof the apprentice’s employer; and furtherawards gained during the course of theapprenticeship should also be recorded.

Development work5.12 The LSC is not just a planning and fundinginstitution. It aspires, and needs to be, anorganisation which actively facilitates goodpractice in post-16 education and training. Indoing so, it can call on the services of bodiessuch as the Learning and Skills DevelopmentAgency, as well as its many experienced localofficers and practitioners with whom the latterare in regular contact.

5.13 In our consideration of work-based learningfor young people, we reached the view that theLSC should take urgent action to identify, developand disseminate good practice in the followingareas:

• The development of individual learning plansand their subsequent follow-up. Some agentsdevote considerable energy to good effect incustomising a learning programme to theneeds of a young person in the light of theirparticular employer, highlighting areas whereskills can be developed as part of the job, andmaking arrangements to cover those areaswhere special inputs are needed. Otherproviders are content to generate a more orless standard ‘plan’ for all entrants.Development work is needed to pinpointgood practice, and to spread it.

• The effective integration of key skills learninginto apprenticeship programmes. It is clear tous that the delivery of key skills is currently amajor problem for providers ofapprenticeships. At worst (which wedeprecate) the skills are left to the end ofprogrammes for financial reasons or becausethey are considered as ‘difficult’. But there isgenuine debate as to whether it is best tomount explicit programmes of instruction in thekey skills, or whether, rather, the right approachis to highlight opportunities for gaining theseskills during the activities that naturally ariseduring an apprenticeship programme. Urgentdevelopment work, building on the existingkey skills development programme, is neededto find and disseminate high quality solutionsto this problem.

• The effective integration of work on technicalcertificates and their testing intoapprenticeship programmes. Similar issues arelikely to arise with regard to technicalcertificates, and the LSC, through itsdevelopment arms, should be alert to thesewith a view to having the capacity quickly toidentify good practice in delivery anddisseminate it throughout the system.

• The accurate and sensitive assessment ofyoung people for whom pre-employmenttraining may offer a way forward into anapprenticeship or other employment. As wediscuss in Section 7, courses are needed tocater for people who need assistance beforeentering apprenticeship and also for those forwhom apprenticeship is never likely to be arealistic option. Inspectors have generallyquestioned the expertise that exists in initialassessment, and nowhere is this moreimportant than where there is doubt aboutwhat young people can be expected toachieve and what special help may beneeded to help them to do so. Focussed workis clearly needed to draw on the best practicealready available, and to experiment withnew techniques. Again, the outcomes shouldbe widely disseminated as soon as possible.

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6.1 The methods of delivery of apprenticeshipare currently extremely varied. This is not surprisingsince apprenticeship has, until this year, beenmanaged by 72 Training and Enterprise Councils,each with their own funding arrangements andpolicies on delivery. While there is merit in acertain flexibility in delivery, there is an obviousneed now for the LSC to establish a commonapproach throughout the country. In doing so, itwill be vital to secure enduring employercommitment so that a lasting supply of highquality employer places is established. This willrequire not only consistent application of thenational framework, but also simplicity ofadministration and predictable financial support.

6.2 In this section we discuss first the tasks thatneed to be undertaken by the LSC, at nationaland local level, and then the arrangements forproviding apprenticeships through different modesof engaging employers. Finally we consider whatinformation is needed to manage apprenticeshipprogrammes and how it should be gathered.

The LSC6.3 In order to carry out fully its responsibility fordeveloping, promoting and delivering modernapprenticeships, we consider that the LSC:

• should develop, in consultation with NTOs andother partner organisations, a consistent long-term strategy for the development of modernapprenticeships;

• should lead national marketing campaignsdedicated to apprenticeship, supported by DfESand with the assistance of NTOs, ensuring thatproperly branded and accurate information isfreely available throughout the system;

• should agree with LLSCs their plans and thefunds available to support them;

• should monitor progress closely andinvestigate promptly areas, whethergeographical or sectoral, where weaknessesappear, and develop action to remedy them;

• should lead the development anddissemination of high quality solutions toproblems at critical points in the system;

• should monitor and promote equalopportunities within apprenticeship; and

• should foster throughout the system a cultureof commitment to continuous improvement inthe quality of apprenticeship as seen both byemployers and by young people.

6.4 Such activities involve each of the mainoperating directorates of the LSC, and it will be ofcritical importance that they act together. It isnot our business to recommend organisationalmodels within the LSC, but at the very least onesenior officer should be identified as having theoverall lead on apprenticeship, and mechanismsshould be put in place to ensure that officers inthe different commands meet periodically to co-ordinate their activities. We makerecommendations later on the monitoring of theaction plan.

6.5 The LLSC is the pivot for the delivery ofapprenticeships. It is its task to ‘make it happen’.Its task needs to go much further than funding. Itneeds to ensure that there are sufficient places,which means that it must both plan forward andactively promote. It needs to ensure that each ofthe parties to successful delivery – employers, off-the-job providers and Connexions – are in touchwith each other and share accurate information.It needs to monitor progress against plans and totake remedial action when necessary. And itneeds to promote continuous improvement interms of quality, through regular reviews ofproviders (which we are encouraged to learn theLSC has already started), promoting the trainingof trainers, and ensuring that those providingapprenticeship are in touch with relevantnational bodies and are given opportunities toshare practice one with another. While it maysensibly delegate some of these tasks, thereshould be no doubt that the accountability fortheir successful conduct resides with the LLSC,and not with the ‘provider’. In order to conductthese tasks effectively, each LLSC should have aclearly designated senior officer, with a job titlecommon to all LLSCs, responsible forapprenticeship, supported by staff specialising inquality improvement and marketing theprogramme. The local Council itself should

6. DELIVERY OF APPRENTICESHIPS

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receive regular reports on apprenticeship, and itsmembers should be encouraged to advise onpromotion, and participate actively in it.

Providing apprenticeships 6.6 Until three years ago there was no nationalinventory of the organisations providing orfacilitating apprenticeships, and we gather thatboth the LSC and the DfES have struggled toestablish a clear picture of their budgets andplaces offered. We undertook work to classifythese organisations by type, building on dataheld by the Adult Learning Inspectorate. Thereare some 1300 organisations concerned, anumber offering programmes in more than oneLSC area. Perhaps surprisingly, only 5% of placeswere accounted for by employers; the averagenumber of places offered by each of these isjust over 50. Chambers of Commerce andgroup training associations (organisationsestablished by employers collectively andgoverned by them) account for a further 8% ofplaces. Thus only a small proportion ofapprenticeships are ‘employer-led’ in the sensethat employers take the lead in establishing thefull apprenticeship programme, eitherindividually or through group arrangementswhich they control collectively.

6.7 The largest single group of organisationsinvolved in the provision of apprenticeships arethe private training providers, who account fornearly 50% of all places. These are private sectorcompanies which do not directly employapprentices themselves, but which provide arange of expert services to employers who dotake on apprentices, services without which anemployer would not feel able to shoulder theresponsibilities which employing an apprenticeinvolves. These organisations in some cases havebusiness interests outside the provision of trainingservices, but for most training is their main interestand source of revenue. Further EducationColleges account for 20% of all places (thoughcolleges also provide off-the-job training formany other young people). Not-for-profitorganisations (other than Chambers of

Commerce and group training associations)account for some 10% of apprenticeships.

6.8 These organisations operate in manydifferent ways. Sometimes they invite applicationsfrom young people and then introduce them toparticipating employers; sometimes they seekemployers with eligible young people alreadyemployed and invite them to join anapprenticeship programme. Some providespecialist off-the-job training themselves, whileothers steer apprentices to relevant courses inlocal colleges. Most are registered with awardingbodies such as City and Guilds and conduct orverify assessments towards NVQs during their visitsto apprentices on employers’ premises, but someprocure this through a third party. Financialarrangements also vary widely. Each organisationreceives a payment from the LSC in respect ofeach trainee, according to a published tariff1. Butwhat is done with that money is up to theprovider. The great majority expect employers topay a wage to apprentices and to provide on-the-job training without subsidy. In general thecosts of off-the-job training, recruitment services,periodic visiting and assessment and certificationof NVQs are met by the provider, who may pay athird party to conduct some of these functions. Insome cases employers are asked to meet someof these costs.

6.9 These arrangements, though admittedlyproviding for a great deal of flexibility, mean that:

• It is not possible to make a general statementto potentially interested employers aboutwhether or not they will actually get a granttowards providing an apprenticeship.

• It is not possible to make a general statementto employers explaining exactly which serviceswill be offered by a provider, and which ofthese they might need to pay for.

• Because providers offer different services,there is no clarity as to what functionsparticular providers are actually expected toperform. This may inhibit methodical qualityreview and development.

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1 This is currently a simplification, since for the first year of operation the LSC has ‘cushioned or damped’ payments according tothe tariff to limit rapid divergences from the training providers’ previous budgets.

• There is an obvious financial incentive forproviders to limit off-the-job training andfrequent reviews, since – so long as inspectorsdo not pick up quality problems2 – they will gainthe full payment from the LSC in any case.

• Most important of all, there is a risk thatproviders will control the actual process ofapprenticeship to such an extent that therelationship which is crucial to allapprenticeships – that between employer andapprentice – is to some degree undermined.

6.10 We have debated whether there isadvantage in retaining the structure of trainingproviders. At first sight other leadingapprenticeship countries do not have sucharrangements; the employers simply follow an on-the-job training syllabus, while releasing traineeson a regular basis for prescribed off-the-jobcourses, and for necessary skills and written tests.On closer examination, though, it becomes clearthat many of the functions of the trainingprovider in this country are in fact undertaken bystatutory agencies on the Continent, whether theChambers in German-speaking countries, orcolleges in Denmark and the Netherlands. Thesefunctions include briefing and support foremployers in conducting on-the-job training, thearrangement of off-the-job training andassessment of trainees.

6.11 Our conclusion is that the role performedby training providers is important, and that therewould be little advantage in a major, andinevitably disruptive, change to place it on astatutory or wholly public sector basis, as is typicalon the Continent. However we consider that theLSC, over time, should seek to develop theprovider structure, so as to make it clearer whatfunctions are expected to be performed by eachorganisation, and to design funding regimeswhich reflect their roles. This will aid publicaccountability and understanding by employersand young people as to what to expect fromthese organisations. Such a ‘migration’ should be

gradual and the outlines of models which wepropose below will no doubt need adaptation inthe light of experience.

6.12 The first category is that of employersindividually or collectively undertaking to arrangeapprenticeship programmes entirely themselves.In many ways this is the ideal model3 and shouldbe encouraged wherever possible. We proposeearlier (paragraph 5.3) that employers withadvanced in-house training programmes mightsubstitute these for the NVQ with the agreementof the relevant NTO. The LSC has already devisedarrangements whereby national employers canenter a central agreement to provideapprenticeships in many different areas of thecountry. The LSC should seek further ways ofoffering simplicity of administration and flexibilityof funding arrangements to employers capableof offering a full apprenticeship programme. Suchemployers should normally expect the costs ofoff-the-job training towards the technicalcertificate to be met by providers approved bythe LSC for that purpose and drawing fundingdirect from the LSC, but should be able to optinstead for a set payment to include all off-the-job training which they would arrange.

6.13 We are clear, however, that only a limitednumber of employers will be able, or will wish, toprovide apprenticeships entirely on their own. Forsmaller employers particularly, the services ofagents are needed to make the delivery of highquality apprenticeship programmes feasible. Thisrole requires explicit recognition, and werecommend that LSC should introduce a systemof registering approved Apprenticeship Agentswhose help an employer may seek in carryingout the responsibilities set out in anapprenticeship framework. Agents should acceptthroughout an apprenticeship that their role is toadvise and assist the parties to theapprenticeship, but not to act as independentprincipals (see paragraph 4.4).

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2 The inspection cycle is once every four years.

3 This category earns, on average, better inspection grades than other providers.

6.14 We have in mind two main types ofApprenticeship Agent: employer support agents,whose prime function will be to provideapprenticeship services to support particularkinds of employer; and programme-led agents,whose prime function is to give young peopleinitial apprenticeship training culminating in anapprenticeship agreement with an employer foreach apprentice. Each would have ratherdifferent patterns of delivery, characteristics andcriteria for recognition, and modes of funding.These build on, and give a structure to, the mainmodels which already exist, but which are notclearly delineated or publicly understood.

6.15 The distinguishing characteristic ofemployer support agents would be that, actingon behalf of the LSC, they facilitateapprenticeship for employers who would nototherwise be able to participate. They might ormight not provide elements of off-the-jobtraining. In terms of criteria for recognition, theyshould have:

• an identifiable group of employers in eachoccupation that they offer;

• an active stance to attracting furtheremployers;

• a practice of fully briefing employers on thecontents of apprenticeship and making theirrole and obligations clear to them;

• a regular and frequent system for keeping intouch with apprentices and their employers toassess progress and to revise plans; and

• a preparedness to refrain from working withemployers who do not fulfil their obligations.

These agents should receive a set sum for theservices they provide, namely promotion,recruitment of trainees, briefing of employers,helping to develop individual training plans,assessment and trainee support. The sum shouldbe worked out with regard to typical costs ofthese activities; the costs together with theexpected levels of service on which they arebased should be published. The LSC shouldconsider the merits of making incentivepayments, through employer support agents, toemployers whose trainees gain an

apprenticeship diploma. Courses leading totechnical certificates, tuition in key skills, orhigher education should be funded separately,with providers of such courses drawing fundingfrom the LSC in the same manner as they wouldfor students outside apprenticeship.

6.16 Programme-led agents would operatequite differently. The rationale is as follows. Thereis clear demand from young people forspecialised occupational training in colleges (atany time, some 50,000 under-19s are undertakingvocational courses other than GNVQs and BTECsat level 2), and in some cases this is constructivelymatched with relevant work experience. There isevidence that some students and their families,including particularly some from ethnic minorities,prefer a programme which is initially based in aneducational setting. A combination ofvocational education and relevant workexperience is not distant from apprenticeship;indeed it would be hard to deny anapprenticeship diploma to someone who hadgained a technical certificate and key skills incollege and who subsequently took an NVQwhile in employment. Such arrangements shouldbe brought clearly into the scope of modernapprenticeship in England, though with clarity asto the mode of learning involved.

6.17 We believe that such an arrangementwould suit some students who may be reluctantor initially poorly equipped to enter employmentwith a specific employer. It would also be likely toappeal to some employers who prefer rathermore mature entrants who have gained abackground in the occupation concernedbefore they enter employment in it, and to someemployers who find it difficult to release traineesfor off-the-job training.

6.18 A programme-led apprenticeship wouldstart in a college or other institutional setting andyoung people would work for the technicalcertificate and lay the groundwork of key skills,perhaps with some more general vocationaleducation and preparatory training towards theNVQ. Thereafter work experience, perhapsinitially in a range of workplaces, would befollowed by employment as an apprentice

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towards the end of the programme, when theNVQ would be the major object of attainment.As well as the overall minimum periods forapprenticeship that we propose in Section 4,these programme-led arrangements wouldrequire a minimum of six months’ employment asan apprentice in the case of the FMA and ofnine months’ employment for the AMA. A studentwould need to have a contract of employmentwith a specific employer before becomingeligible for an apprenticeship diploma.

6.19 This mode of apprenticeship might also bedeveloped for some young people whospecialise in a vocational subject before 16. Theycould start work towards a technical certificateand key skills needed for the FMA while still incompulsory education, progressing to theemployment component after leaving school.This opens up the possibility of entering an AMAshortly after leaving school.

6.20 Programme-led agents would typically beFurther Education Colleges or other providerscapable of undertaking specialised off-the-jobtraining in an institutional setting. In terms ofcriteria for recognition they should:

• be able to offer training relevant to a widerange of occupations with supporting coursesof general education;

• have the capacity for intensive support in keyskills;

• have access to a wide range of local workplacements;

• make regular contact with trainees during on-the-job spells;

• have a capacity for the initial assessment oftrainees and continued pastoral support; and

• have extensive community links in order to beable to arrange periods of employment withpublic and voluntary organisations tocomplete on-the-job requirements notcovered elsewhere.

These agents would draw down funding for theoff-the-job elements, and receive a further grantfor the procurement and support of on-the-jobelements with employers.

6.21 Programme-led apprenticeships have afurther potential advantage. The evidence wehave is that at present it is reasonable to thinkthat the number of employers willing to offerapprenticeships can be expanded relativelyeasily to meet any likely demand. The advent ofan entitlement to apprenticeship (discussed inSection 8) and also changes in market conditionscould at some future time lead to shortages inparticular areas or sectors. The existence ofprogramme-led apprenticeship provision whichcan readily be expanded should help toovercome these; and in the last resort it might beopen to the LSC to offer financial incentives toemployers who provide extra places for the finalperiod of on-the-job training.

6.22 Generally LLSCs should accept offers ofplaces from employers who wish to, and whohave the capacity to, contract direct for thewhole of an apprenticeship programme, helpingthem through suggesting providers of off-the-jobtraining and assessment services. These, however,are likely to constitute a minority of places. Inplanning the necessary number ofapprenticeship places in their areas, LLSC willneed to fashion a balance of employer supportagents and programme-led agents, takingaccount of the occupations offered by eachand existing agents of proven quality. We makeno recommendations as to the relative intrinsicmerits of employer support agents andprogramme-led agents, but the considerationsthat LLSCs should bear in mind in determining abalance will include the following:

• Employer support agents are likely to offerstrengths where employers, including smallfirms, have traditions of training and positivelywish to influence its nature.

• Employer support agents will generally beappropriate in sectors and areas where youngpeople have made definite occupationalchoices and employers are keen to recruityoung people at an early stage.

• Programme-led agents are likely to offerstrengths where employers or young peopledesire an introduction to the relevantoccupation and its underpinning vocational

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knowledge before embarking on the on-the-job component.

• Programme-led agents will generally beappropriate where young people are initiallyunsure of occupational selection, and whereemployers prefer a gradual introduction tofuture employees.

Centres of Vocational Excellence in furthereducation colleges are likely to be able to offerthe basis for acting either as employer supportagents (where they work in support of a setgroup of employers in the relevant occupation),or as programme-led agents (where they arerecognised by local employers as providing arelevant initial training and in identifying suitablepotential employees). Though there will beexceptions, in general LLSCs may well find ituneconomic to recognise both programme-ledand employer support agents in the samelocation and for the same occupation.

Management information6.23 The task of the LSC in managing a coherentapprenticeship system, is a very sizeable one. Itwill need good management information, and itis very plain that at present this is lacking. Thecritical purposes that information will need toserve are:

• planning the necessary places each year ineach locality, in conjunction with theConnexions Service;

• monitoring take-up, both overall and bydifferent groups of young people;

• enabling LLSCs to keep track of theapprenticeships they support, through theirregistration with the LLSCs, as we recommendat paragraph 4.4;

• ensuring that young people are properlyregistered with NTOs;

• establishing where employer demand is weak,in order to inform marketing efforts; and

• measuring attainment within the system inorder to address problems of quality and non-completion.

6.24 We are aware that the LSC is developing itsapproach to management information across allthe different types of provision that it supports,and we have not attempted a comprehensivespecification for apprenticeships. We would,however, recommend that the followingelements, which are currently lacking, beincorporated:

• There should be a common system throughoutthe country for the planning of apprenticeshipplaces, with advance notification by theConnexions Service to the LLSC of theprospective number of young people whowish to enter apprenticeship, by locality andby occupational grouping, and notification bythe LLSC to the Connexions Service of thenumber of available places in each locality,again broken down by occupation.

• Details of all employers participating inapprenticeship should be held by the LLSC,coded by locality and the frameworks theyoffer. This database should be available toNTOs and the Connexions Service.

• Records should be kept of the number ofapprentices who complete their fullapprenticeship as part of the LSC’s individualstudent record system.

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7.1 Our terms of reference require us to reporton arrangements for the phasing out of ‘OtherTraining’ following the Secretary of State forEducation and Employment’s announcementthat no new entrants for this programme shouldstart after September 2002.1 Analysis of theprovision known as ‘Other Training’ in the DfEScategorisation shows that is aimed at two maingroups: those undertaking some kind ofpreparatory training for entry to the labourmarket or apprenticeship, and those who seemcapable of undertaking an apprenticeship, butfor whom one is not available or who have notbeen steered towards one. We consider eachcase in turn.

Pre-employment training7.2 Not all young people leaving compulsoryeducation are able to meet the demands ofapprenticeship immediately, and in fact it provesan unrealistic aspiration for some even withfurther learning. Some 20,000 young people lastyear started programmes of work-based trainingaiming for qualifications at below NVQ level 2, ithaving been certified by Careers Services thatthis was the most appropriate aim for them. Inaddition, there are many other young people,notably within the group who are not inemployment or training at all, who do not comeforward or for whom there is no suitableprogramme, whom we would wish to assist intoemployment where possible by apprenticeship;many of them have low levels of priorattainment, social or behavioural problems whichstand in the way of sustained participation, orlimitations on their innate ability. Though withreforms to the compulsory education system thenumbers of such young people may beexpected to decline, they will still exist. Moreoverthe new demands within apprenticeship for keyskills and technical certificates may presentadded problems for some of these youngpeople.

7.3 For these reasons we have no doubt thatprogrammes of training aimed at preparingyoung people for employment, whether or not in

apprenticeship, are needed; they currently exist,but are not clearly identified as such, with theresult that there is often unhelpful obscurity as towhat they aim to achieve and their distinctionfrom apprenticeship itself. Their lack of a specificidentity has also inhibited the specialist staffdevelopment that is undoubtedly required, andhas meant that they have been funded in asimilar fashion to other work-based programmes,with undesirable effects.

7.4 We consider that there should be pre-employment provision to cater for those who arenot ready to enter apprenticeship or otheremployment. It might be known as ‘Entry toEmployment’ (E2E). These programmes wouldhave the following features:

• They would undertake expert assessment oftrainees referred to them, to determine whatthe barriers to entry into apprenticeship orother employment are and how best toresolve them (see our recommendation atparagraph 5.13).

• They would provide for each trainee aprogramme by means of which such problemscan be addressed through, for example, lifeskills training, tuition in basic skills and judiciousexposure to real working environments.

• They would assess on an ongoing basis, and inconjunction as necessary with the ConnexionsService, whether a young person is ready toenter apprenticeship or other employment,and if so help to secure an appropriate place.In the case of young people progressing toapprenticeship the E2E provider might beasked by the Connexions Service to offer initialsupport (for example in basic skills orcounselling), on a tapering basis.

7.5 E2E providers should be carefully selected bythe LSC as organisations with whom it wouldengage on a long-term basis since this is an areawhich will require the building of considerableexpertise. Providers should have thecharacteristics of: active links with local agenciesable to access young people not able or willing

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7. PRE-EMPLOYMENT AND ‘OTHER TRAINING’

1 Education into Employability: the role of the DfEE in the Economy: January 2001.

to engage in employment; expertise in theassessment of young people with special needsor problems; the ability to build rapport withindividual young people with a wide range ofobstacles to employment and learning; linkageswith local agencies able to give professional helpwith particular problems (for example housingproblems); and the ability to foster relationshipswith local employers attuned to the needs ofyoung people with difficulties in seeking orretaining regular jobs.

7.6 E2E providers should not be required tofollow a common syllabus or pursue setqualifications for those referred to them, butwould offer a range of occupational and socialtraining, selecting the most appropriate mix foreach trainee. Basic skills (equating to GCSEpasses at maths and English) should however bepursued with most young people who have notattained this standard. Where providers judge itsensible to enter young people for NVQs at level1 or 2 in order to build confidence and makeyoung people familiar with the qualificationsprocess, this should certainly form part of anindividual’s programme, but should not berequired in every case.

7.7 We consider that E2E providers should befunded on a different basis than employers andagents offering apprenticeships where funding islargely dependent on the numbers actually intraining; indeed, such providers should not beencouraged to recruit the maximum number ofyoung clients and retain them as long as possible,as their main purpose is to secure transition forthose most in need. Rather, LLSCs should estimatethe likely need for E2E provision in particularareas and fund the reasonable costs of thecapacity required to accommodate this need,adjusting the capacity and necessary costs on ayear-to-year basis in the light of the numbersactually referred to E2E and progressing toapprenticeship or employment. The LSC should,over time, compare the costs, throughput andsuccess rates of similar providers around thecountry and use such information as abenchmark for raising standards and adjustingcosts.

7.8 Excellent specialist providers of this kindalready exist, particularly in the voluntary sector.These providers will want to build on theirexpertise in reaching disadvantaged youngpeople and engaging with them. Theyparticularly need to develop a high level ofexpertise in initial and formative assessment.Tuition in basic skills is a further expert task for thisclient group. Since these providers will becomparatively few in number and may often begeographically isolated one from another, theLSC should network with them to enable them tolearn from each other’s experience, developcurriculum approaches, and devote specialattention to developing initial assessmenttechniques.

7.9 Even with expert assessment andpreparatory training, there will be many youngpeople who are referred to E2E who will not beable to undertake a full apprenticeship; theevidence of other European countries as well asour own suggests that some 10% of all youngpeople, and perhaps more, are likely to be in thiscategory. It would be quite wrong in these casesfor individuals to be entered for programmeswhich it was known that they would fail. In thecase of young people considered afterassessment and/or initial training not to becapable of progressing to apprenticeship, the E2Eprovider should devise a programme designed toresult in settled employment. Such a programmemight include progressively longer periods of workplacement with employers who are ready to co-operate. If an NVQ would aid the aim of gainingemployment then this should be pursued, but itshould not be a requirement; there will be caseswhere different qualifications may be moreappropriate, or where the pursuit of any formalqualification would constitute a diversion fromthe main task.

7.10 It is important that those referred to E2Ehave real problems which prevent them fromtaking up an apprenticeship or entering a job atonce. And it is vital that only those who aregenuinely considered incapable of undertakingan apprenticeship embark on training foremployment only. For these reasons werecommend that all young people undertaking

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programmes with E2E providers should do so onthe basis of a decision specifically endorsed bythe Connexions Service. The Connexions Serviceshould also specifically endorse later judgementsthat particular young people are not realisticallylikely to be able to undertake an apprenticeship.

‘Other Training’ at Level Two andabove7.11 Some 36,000 young people started traininglast year outside apprenticeship frameworks withthe aim of attaining NVQs at level 2 or above;half of them were not employed, but ratherclassed as trainees. In part this sector reflects theremains of the transition between Youth Trainingand Modern Apprenticeship, which hasproceeded faster in some parts of the countrythan others, and the numbers in this ‘residual’provision have reduced considerably recently,falling by two-thirds over the past two years.There are clear dangers, though, that this kind ofprovision, if it continues, will serve as a relativelyeasy, publicly subsidised, alternative toapprenticeships for those employers and youngpeople wishing simply to escape the demands ofa proper apprenticeship. If it remains, therefore, itcould serve to undermine apprenticeships. Inconsidering this sector we have been consciousof three main legitimate purposes which it mightserve, and concerned to ensure that these arecatered for in a different manner:

• To an extent it caters for those young peoplewho are not equipped to undertake the keyskills or technical certificate components ofmodern apprenticeships, but who are able toundertake an NVQ at level 2 or above. Suchyoung people should be assisted by the E2Eprogramme just described.

• In some areas it may provide for youngpeople who, though able, are unable to findan apprenticeship place. We consider that theprovision in Section 6 that we refer to as‘programme-led’ will serve such people in amore satisfactory manner. Rather than simplyenter a place of employment as a trainee,they should embark on a structuredprogramme leading to key skills and thetechnical certificate while intensive efforts are

made to find them an employer, with theadvantage that in the meantime they willhave gained real skills.

• It may also provide some opportunities for theacquisition of a qualification for those inemployment whose employers are reluctant –for whatever reason – to allow them toundertake an apprenticeship. While we would,of course, wish to try to convince any suchemployers of the merits of apprenticeship, weshould face the possibility that they may notparticipate, and consider that in thesecircumstances it is better that the youngperson should have the opportunity of trainingtowards a more limited qualification ratherthan none at all. We therefore recommendthat the LSC should provide a facility, throughApprenticeship Agents, to meet theassessment (but not the training) costs of NVQsat level 2 or above of young employees.

Timing7.12 We believe that the proposals set outabove, if acted upon promptly, should enable theLSC to meet the government’s aim of phasing out‘Other Training’ and replacing it with moresuitable provision for entrants after September2002. This timescale will, though, represent aparticular challenge to the LSC, and there arelikely to be a few instances where ‘Other Training’has formed the basis of occupational training forsectors with no apprenticeship framework thatemployers consider relevant. It may take time forthe LSC, working with such sectors and with theappropriate NTOs, to develop alternativeapprenticeship arrangements, and it would nothelp the wider development of apprenticeship ifsuch arrangements were prejudiced by unduehaste. We therefore recommend that the LSCNational Office should urgently identify particularsectoral work-based training schemes for youngpeople at present in force which it is unlikely to bepossible to put on a satisfactory long-term basisbefore September 2002, and that the DfES shouldaccept that in these cases support for work-basedtraining short of apprenticeship should continuefor a limited period. We anticipate that suchcases should be few and clearly identified asexceptional.

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8.1 In the next section we propose aconsiderable marketing effort. To direct that, weneed a sense of the scale of endeavour needed,and benchmarks as to success. Linked to targetsis the idea of an entitlement to apprenticeship;the government has a manifesto commitment tointroduce this1, and though we were notspecifically invited to make recommendations onthe nature of an entitlement, the matter isevidently closely tied to the establishment ofoverall targets for the modern apprenticeshipprogramme.

Targets8.2 In establishing plans three years hence,which is our particular remit, we felt it necessaryto consider on a rather longer time-scale whatour hopes were for the eventual place ofapprenticeship within the education and trainingsystem.

8.3 Over the long term success in developingmodern apprenticeships would mean that allyoung people who have both the wish and thecapability to undertake an apprenticeshipsuccessfully will do so. A reasonable longer termtarget would be for 35% of young people eachyear to enter modern apprenticeships – broadlythe proportion of young people who do so nowin Denmark and the Netherlands, thoughconsiderably less than that in Germany andAustria. If 35% of our young people enteredapprenticeships before they were 22 by the year2010, then – taking into account the increasedsize of the cohort of young people – we wouldexpect over 230,000 new entrants toapprenticeship each year.

8.4 In Section 2 we depict a strongapprenticeship system (which participation atContinental levels would undoubtedly give us)combined with a sizeable full-time educationstream to 18. Under such a system each youngperson who left school at the earliest possibleage would take an FMA, leading either to skilledoperative employment, or – if they were capable

and willing – to an AMA (some might obtain anAMA immediately). At the AMA stage they wouldbe joined, at approximately the same age, bytheir peers who had continued in full-timeeducation, but who were not immediatelyuniversity-bound. Many of these would take theaccelerated version of the AMA which wepropose in Section 4. Graduates of the AMAwould go to craft and supervisory jobs, or totechnician and management posts, oftenundertaking a higher education course as part ofthe process.

8.5 This system would have the benefit thatthere would be a possibility of higher educationfor all, even for those who left full-time educationat the earliest possible point. Our market researchtells us that the possibility of entry to highereducation is important for a very wide range ofyoung people and their parents; indeed therehave already been young people who havetaken modern apprenticeships at 16 andprogressed into higher education.

8.6 There is much to do to make this prospect areality. Rather over 20% of young people atpresent enter modern apprenticeships at the ageof 21 or under, i.e. around 140,000 per year, andthe proportion completing successfully is verymuch lower. In our view it would be reasonableto adopt a target for 2004 of 28% of youngpeople entering apprenticeship before the age of22, i.e. some 175,000 young people aged 16 to 21entering a modern apprenticeship for the firsttime in the year beginning September 2004. Thatwould constitute a firm start consistent withreaching our longer term goal of 35%, or over230,000 entrants, by 2010.

8.7 This target, amounting to a 25% increase inentrants in three years, will be challenging for theLSC, and will not be achievable without adetermined promotional effort, which wedescribe in the following Section. If the currentbalance of re-entrants and older trainees ismaintained, then room will need to be found fora further 45,000 recruits each year. And, assuming

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8. TARGETS AND ENTITLEMENTS

1 Ambitions for Britain: Labour’s Manifesto 2001 stated that ‘we will ensure there is an apprenticeship place for every young personwho reaches the required standard’.

that our proposals for minimum durations forapprenticeship, combined with higher rates ofcompletion, the effects of technical certificatesand the LSC’s new funding system add 20% tothe average length of stay, then by the end of2004 over 130,000 new apprenticeship placesoffering employed status will be needed, a 70%increase over the existing number. This will requirea major effort to build capacity and we explainbelow how it might be achieved.

8.8 There are currently some 190,000 modernapprenticeship places with employed status. Thefirst task in any attempt to increase up-take is toupgrade as many as possible of those work-based training places which are outside theapprenticeship system so that they provide goodquality modern apprenticeships instead. That isessential both to make an attractive offer ofdemonstrable quality to young people and, aswe argue, to prevent inferior alternatives fromundermining apprenticeship. We recommendtherefore that efforts to September 2002concentrate especially on the substitution ofmodern apprenticeship places for ‘Other Training’at level 2 and above. That will involve establishingaround 36,000 new apprenticeship places.

8.9 The second task is to ensure that allapprenticeship places carry employed status(using the facility for probation we recommend inthe national framework). The esteem this brings toyoung people and the commitment itdemonstrates by employers have been importantfacets in establishing the original modernapprenticeship initiative, and it is important thatthis be carried through into FMAs, where currentlya quarter of trainees do not enjoy employedstatus. Expanding apprenticeships through havingmore non-employed trainees on employers’premises would be likely to create suspicion byyoung people and parents that this is atemporary ‘make-work’ measure, and thereforeto be self-defeating. The second major tasktherefore is by September 2003 to ensure that allapprenticeship places have employed status. This

will involve converting 27,000 places to employedstatus; it may well prove possible to persuadeemployers who have hitherto had non-employedapprentices to offer employed status in future, if itis clear that this is an accepted part of thenational framework.

8.10 In this way around a half of the necessaryplaces for the increase in participants that wepropose for 2004 could be found from employersalready participating in work-based training inone form or another. The other half would needto come from enhanced marketing efforts. Webelieve there is very considerable capacity andlatent willingness amongst employers to offerapprenticeships. Currently only about 6% of allemployers are involved in apprenticeship2, risingto a modest 17% of those with more than 25employees. Over half of the employers involvedonly have one apprentice3. It is plain, therefore,that if even only one in ten firms took anapprentice, and if a proportion of the firms whichalready had an apprentice could be persuadedto take another, the number of places requiredcould readily be met. It is also apparent that LSCareas differ considerably in the degree to whichemployers participate in the programme.Nationally there are just under ten modernapprenticeship places for each 1000 employees,but this proportion varies by area from over 15 toless than five. And it is far from the case that it isthe most prosperous areas which have thelargest number of places; indeed the area withthe highest proportion of places is Merseyside,and London has the lowest. All this leads us tobelieve that there is considerable scope forincreasing the number of available places, ifsuitable young people can be persuaded to takethem up.

8.11 We have concentrated on the numberentering apprenticeships. Obviously the numbercompleting them is as important, if not more so.But as there are currently no national data on thenumbers completing apprenticeships, other thanthat it cannot exceed the half or so who attain

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2 Learning & Training at Work, 2000, DfEE Research Report RR 269

3 Evaluation of Modern Apprenticeships: 1998 Survey of Employers DfEE Research Report RR 94’.

an NVQ, there is no basis on which to set a futuretarget. However we recommend that a target forapprenticeship completions should beestablished by the LSC, in discussion with theDfES, when data becomes available from thecollection of completion statistics that werecommend in Section 6.

Entitlements8.12 We recommend a basic entitlement to amodern apprenticeship place for young peopleaged 16 or 17 who have five GCSEs (at grades Ato G) including maths and English. This entitlementshould apply also to those assessed as suitable forapprenticeship as a result of an Entry toEmployment course and who have attained thekey skills of communication and application ofnumber at level 1. This basic entitlement shouldcome into force from September 2004. While allefforts should be made to secure places in theoccupations desired by young people, theentitlement could not realistically apply to the firstchoice of every young person.

8.13 We recommend a threshold of basic abilitybefore the entitlement is triggered, because,particularly with the advent of technicalcertificates as part of apprenticeship, entrants willneed to be able to undertake some theoreticalstudy, and it would be both wasteful and cruel toentice young people into courses when it wasclear that they did not have the basic ability tosucceed. We note earlier that in Continentalcountries it is common that apprenticeships donot extend to some 10% or so of the mostdisadvantaged, and we should not expectapprenticeship to extend to absolutely all in thiscountry, though the opportunity to attain thethreshold through Entry to Employment courseswill create a pathway into apprenticeship foryoung people who do not initially have thenecessary basic qualifications. All young peoplewho are considered by the Connexions Serviceto need an E2E programme should be entitled toa place from September 2002.

8.14 It would be wrong to bring in theentitlement to apprenticeship before employedapprenticeships are the rule; to do so would carrydangers of manifestly ‘second class’ placesprovided purely to meet a guarantee. We alsothink it would be wise to develop what we havecalled programme-led apprenticeships which willbe more suitable for some of those who wouldbe within the scope of the entitlement.

8.15 We would ideally wish to extend the basicentitlement to encompass the right to be found aplace on the AMA for young people at 16 and 17with higher-grade GCSEs. We do not, though, feelconfident enough to do so, since we have yet tosee the entrance requirements that NTOs havebeen asked to suggest, and – at the advancedlevel – it is likely that rather different abilities willbe required in different occupations. However, in2004 the LSC should review the feasibility of anentitlement to a place on the AMA for 16 and 17year olds with 5 good GCSEs including maths andEnglish, in the light of experience in movingtowards the basic entitlement, and the guidelineson entrance requirements to the AMA that NTOsby then will have developed.

8.16 Even though we cannot at this stagerecommend the guarantee of a place on theAMA, we do believe that the government andthe LSC should make it clear that financialsupport will be available to underpin an AMAplace gained by young people aged 16 and 17,and by those who enter an FMA at this age and‘graduate’ successfully from it. We thereforerecommend that young people aged 16 or 17,and those young people who successfullycomplete an FMA at the age of 19 or earlier,should be entitled to financial support in an AMAshould they secure a place with an employer.This entitlement, too, should obtain fromSeptember 2004.

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9.1 In this Section we consider two aspects ofthe task of promoting apprenticeship – theprovision of factual information about the natureof different apprenticeships and how to accessthem, and the task to be undertaken in buildingthe apprenticeship brand. We also consider whatshould be done to promote the celebration ofachievement in modern apprenticeships.

Factual information9.2 Though many people claim to have heardabout apprenticeship it is evident from ourmarket research that it is poorly known to anydepth. This is true of employers, young peopleand – particularly – parents. Even someprofessional staff, such as careers teachers andcareers advisers have difficulty in knowing whatan individual apprenticeship actually consists of,or how to set about finding an apprenticeshipopportunity. Very considerable effort needs to gointo the provision of accurate and relevantfactual information. We make no apology for thevery detailed nature of a number of therecommendations that follow; this is specific andpractical territory but it may well be that not onlythe weak take-up of apprenticeships but also thepropensity for early leaving may be largely dueto simple lack of information – studies show thatmodern apprentices have tended to followrather circuitous routes in getting on to theprogramme1, and our market research shows thatmany young people have little idea about thelength of commitment. Lack of information onthe part of employers, too, may explain whysome will take apprentices off training beforecompletion – they may not have a firm notion ofwhat completion entails. In short, betterinformation will play a critical part in tackling thetwo main weaknesses of modern apprenticeship– early leaving and low participation.

9.3 The first task is to have readily availablematerial describing what the different kinds ofapprenticeship consist of. Some conscientiouscareers teachers are inhibited fromrecommending an apprenticeship simply

because, unlike full-time post-16 courses, they donot know what the ‘syllabus’ is. Parents, too, areunderstandably wary of encouraging theirchildren to embark on something without areasonably clear idea of what it involves. Wetherefore recommend that:

• The LSC should commission from the NTOs aclear description, in a factual style and to acommon format, of the contents of eachframework in a manner which can beunderstood by interested teachers,Connexions Service personal advisers andemployers. NTOs should also producedescriptions of their frameworks aimed atyoung people and their parents.

• These descriptions should be printed in a seriesof leaflets with a common house-style andalso lodged on a central website managed bythe LSC, and NTOs should display thedescriptions on their websites.

• Stocks of the leaflets should be distributed tocareers teachers, the Connexions Service, theSmall Business Service and ApprenticeshipAgents. Folders containing the series of leafletsshould be distributed to school CareersLibraries.

9.4 The idea of progression, both to highereducation and up an occupational hierarchy is apowerful one among young people and theirparents. It is encouraging that they do not, in themain, associate apprenticeship with a decisionnot to enter higher education, or as somethingfor those who are not academic. It is importantto build on these perceptions, and in order to doso NTOs should produce simple descriptions ofthe career paths within their sectors, includingdetails of wage rates and employmentopportunities, and also routes to relevant highereducation courses and professional developmentopportunities for those who might wish to pursuethem after an apprenticeship.

9.5 As well as information about whatapprenticeship consists of, there needs to be

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9. PROMOTION OF APPRENTICESHIP

1 Evaluation of Modern Apprenticeships: 1998 Survey of Young People, DfEE Research Report RR 93, For example, this study foundthat over 20% of modern apprentices had been in employment without training before becoming involved with the programme.’

good local information about the actualopportunities which are available. Sinceemployers are such an important part of thesystem, since knowledge about the involvementof a number of employers is likely to encourageothers, and since young people and their parentsare likely to be interested in the employers whichoffer apprenticeship, details of participatingemployers should be widely known. At paragraph6.24, we recommend that all employers whooffer apprenticeship places should be registeredwith the LSC, and that the LSC should code theseplaces by framework and locality and distributeconsolidated lists to the relevant ConnexionsService offices. The LSC should also support asystem which includes a website where thevacancies offered by employers, theirApprenticeship Agents and frameworks offeredcan be viewed, with details as to how to apply foreach one and links to the national information(described above) on the content of frameworks.The Connexions Service should publicise thiswebsite.

9.6 Though, overall, participation inapprenticeship is relatively evenly balancedbetween young men and young women, thereare stark imbalances in particular sectors (seeAnnex D), reflecting long-standing stereotypesheld by parents, young people, employers andthe existing workforce. Such stereotypes not onlylimit opportunities for young people, but also limitthe supply of skills for employers. In certain sectorsthere have been commendable and sustainedefforts to moderate these imbalances, andexperience has shown that progress is, by thenature of the problem, likely to be slow.Nevertheless progress is both necessary andfeasible. It is particularly important thatinformation about these occupations, theirworking conditions, and about opportunities toprogress within them is not left to word of mouth,which is often how stereotypes and prejudice istransmitted from generation to generation. And itis important that official agencies, which canhelp educate popular knowledge, should acttogether in a concerted manner, which is best

achieved, we consider, when focussed onparticular problem areas. We thereforerecommend that:

• NTOs should ensure that, in sectors wherethere is currently a significant genderimbalance, leaflets and other publicationsshould promote the participation of those whoare currently under-represented, whether maleor female.

• The LSC and the Connexions Service, actingjointly and where appropriate with a relevantNTO, should mount projects in identifiedsectors and localities designed to increaseparticipation by under-represented groups.

9.7 The Connexions Service is committed tobringing the option of a modern apprenticeshipto the attention of each young person from 14onwards. The recommendations we have madewill enable it to back this up with solid informationabout frameworks, Apprenticeship Agents andemployers involved so that young people andtheir parents are able to research things forthemselves. In view of the fact that the transitionfrom an educational setting to one ofemployment is inevitably something of “a stepinto the unknown” for young people, and thefact that entry to apprenticeship is sometimes notstraightforward, the Connexions Service shouldaim to ensure that a personal adviser speaks toeach young person aged 15 who shows aninterest in applying for apprenticeship thefollowing year.

9.8 In our market research a number of careersteachers pointed to the pressures in their schoolsto encourage young people to stay on in SixthForms, and many concerned with apprenticeshipallege that schools do not give unbiased advice.In the light of a recent OFSTED study2, and inorder to reflect new choices in 14-19 educationand training, we understand that the ConnexionsService National Unit is preparing a framework ofstandards and curriculum for careers educationand guidance in schools. We endorse thisdevelopment and recommend that the

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2 National Survey of Careers Education and Guidance, OFSTED, 1998

adequacy and objectivity of advice be keptunder review by the National Unit.

9.9 Employers, too, need practical informationas to how to get involved, and there needs to beclarity about referral routes for employers whoexpress an interest. To that end:

• LLSCs should actively promote themselves asthe prime contact point for employers wishingto participate in apprenticeship, and shouldhave a mechanism for speedily referring theemployer to a relevant Apprenticeship Agent.

• The Small Business Service should issueinformation on apprenticeship to interestedemployers with whom it is in contact, and bein a position to advise on whichApprenticeship Agents could support theemployer.

9.10 Though it is probably unrealistic to expectNTOs to undertake direct information distributionto employers in their sectors, it is important thatthey keep track of those who are involved, andtake the opportunity to explain the role andservices of the NTO to them. We propose, atparagraph 6.24, that the LSC should arrange forNTOs to receive the details of the employersoffering apprenticeships for which they areresponsible. We also propose that:

• NTOs should issue an initial welcome pack tonew employers, briefly explaining the contentof the framework, the role of the NTO indevising it, and the mechanisms forcontributing to its revision. The pack shouldalso describe the NTO’s procedures for theregistration of trainees, and for the issue ofapprenticeship diplomas.

• NTOs should notify existing employers of anychanges to the apprenticeship frameworks.

• The LSC should pay NTOs for this activity.

• LLSCs should require all Apprenticeship Agentssupporting frameworks to register thoseapprenticeships with the relevant NTOs. NTOsshould develop methods for consulting with

Apprenticeship Agents about reviews of theirframeworks, and for notifying them whenchanges are made.

Branding and targeting9.11 To inform our recommendations onbranding and targeting, we commissionedadvice from a team of marketing professionalsthrough the Central Office of Information.3 Weoutline below their proposals, with which welargely agree, on the branding and marketing ofmodern apprenticeships.

9.12 There should be a major national marketingcampaign, undertaken by the LSC and DfESjointly, to build the modern apprenticeship brand,add value to the currency of modernapprenticeships and increase take-up by youngpeople and employers. The marketing campaignshould run each year for three years, building upto the introduction of the entitlement in 2004. Weacknowledge that it will require substantial effortto put the campaign we propose in place in2002. The initial awareness raising and imagebuilding element of the campaign should ideallystart in January, and certainly no later thanFebruary 2002. This would require approval to begiven around October 2001, so that the brandproposition can be developed into advertisingand direct marketing proposals. Moreover, beforelaunching such a campaign, the DfES and LSCwill need to be confident that the necessaryinfrastructure is in place, particularly at local level,to cope with interest; it is essential that thestructures and personnel exist to advise andsupport young people and employers, and thatdetailed information on frameworks and localopportunities is available and accessible. If thiswill not be the case, it may be necessary tomodify the communications objectives andstrategy in the first year. The marketing campaignshould, therefore, be synchronised andintegrated with the implementation ofimprovements to the infrastructure that supportsthe delivery of modern apprenticeships.

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3 The report from the marketing team, which included the Central Office of Information, BDDH and Naked Communications, hasbeen presented to the DfES and LSC.

9.13 The advice we received proposed that themain target audience for the marketingcampaign should be 15 to 16 year olds whomight otherwise: pursue an employment pathway(whether actively or because they do not knowwhat else to do); pursue a training pathway butwithout a modern apprenticeship; or be unclearor undecided about their future and so stay on ineducation by default.4 These are the groups fromwhich the greatest potential for recruitmentappears to come. They can be divided intoprimary and secondary audiences. The primaryaudience is those who would make an ‘active’choice, either for an employment or a trainingpathway, and who can be characterised aspractical, purposive and independent. Thisprimary audience was used to determine thebrand positioning. The secondary audience isthose who had passively drifted into employmentor who were unclear or undecided, and whowere characterised as being unsure, confusedand worried about being ‘boxed in’. It should beemphasised that although the nationalpromotional campaign would be aimed primarilyat these 15 and 16 year olds, young peopleshould, of course, begin to receive informationand advice about modern apprenticeships at amuch earlier age.

9.14 In addition, we believe, that as part of thenational marketing campaign, the acceleratedoption for AMAs (which we propose at paragraph4.4), should be promoted to those who stay on infull-time education, but who might well wish toenter an apprenticeship when they reach 18 andafterwards either remain in employment orproceed into higher education. This will enableapprenticeships to be presented as a product forthe whole ability range, with two different routesto progress to AMAs. We believe it will help toraise the status of modern apprenticeships,particularly among those who joined at 16, whowould know that, on reaching 18, they would bejoined by their peers who had opted to stay infull-time education for a further two years.

9.15 The marketing campaign should also reachand address:

• school and college teachers in general,careers teachers in particular, and ConnexionsService personal advisers who presentinformation to, and advise, young people;

• parents, friends, siblings and peers who arekey ‘influencers’ and who need to bepositively informed about modernapprenticeships; and

• employers that are potential providers ofmodern apprenticeships.

9.16 Modern apprenticeships should be definedand expressed as a single brand which should beused with all audiences and in a consistent way.We believe that the advent of the LSC and itslocal arms, and the introduction of theConnexions Service, provides an excellentopportunity to present this single brand and co-ordinate national and local marketing in a waythat was not possible before.

9.17 The marketing team developed its adviceon how modern apprenticeships should bebranded by bringing together what modernapprenticeships offer and what the primaryaudience want, to create a focus on ‘what youget’, in particular the acquisition of theapprenticeship diploma. Therefore, the brandmessage, which we recommend, emphasisesthat being a modern apprentice means earninga valuable and recognised qualification whichgives young people a head start in their careers.Modern apprenticeships offer a ladder ofprogression that gives structure, purpose and areal career opportunity. They deliver trained andqualified employees who have earned theirsuccess and are a real asset to the employerswho support them. This is expressed, in thelanguage of the primary audience, in thefollowing brand positioning statement developedby BDDH:

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4 The analysis of the target audience drew on the market research reported at Annex C, previous evaluations of modernapprenticeships, and other research recently conducted on the pathways that young people take from age 16, particularly DfEEResearch Report 256 (2001), Staying Away or Staying On? A Qualitative Evaluation of the Education Maintenance Allowance, NCSR.

‘Everyone needs a job. But not everyonewants to stay on at school to get one. Theywant a real job in the real world, right now.Modern apprenticeships are today’s way ofplanning a successful career. You get paidfrom day one. You get trained while you work.You get a qualification at the end, and theflexibility to stay on or go back to college. Youget a better chance and a better choice. Youget a head start.’

9.18 The national marketing campaign shouldhave a number of key elements. It shouldaddress ignorance among all the audiences andraise awareness so as to build the stature andimage of modern apprenticeships. This should beachieved through a high profile, ‘above-the-line’promotional campaign using television and press.It should also address the antipathy and apathythat exists among many young people. Youngpeople need to believe that modernapprenticeships are worthwhile and are valuedby their parents, peers and potential employers.They also need to be motivated to find out moreabout modern apprenticeships. This should beachieved by targeting promotional activity at thekey points when young people are thinkingabout their future including during mockexaminations, when they leave school, whenthey receive their results and when they take re-sits. This should include creating an annualapprenticeship recruitment event in late Augustand September, after examination results arereceived, to market apprenticeship opportunitiesin each local area using media such as the radio,local newspapers, magazines, cinema andInternet. Although young people will continue tojoin the programme throughout the year,developments such as the introduction oftechnical certificates are likely to lead to a moreclearly delineated annual cycle of recruitmentwith an even greater concentration of starts inSeptember. It is therefore sensible to make asubstantial marketing effort at the time whenthese become available and many youngpeople are looking for placements.

9.19 The campaign should also seek to activateteachers, careers teachers and ConnexionsService personal advisers to promote modern

apprenticeships to young people for whom theyare an appropriate option. The ConnexionsService should be closely involved in planningpromotional initiatives. Direct marketing and theInternet should be used to engage these groupsand provide them with the resources to adviseyoung people about apprenticeships.

9.20 Co-ordinated efforts should be made tosign up employers by communicating the valueof modern apprenticeship training to theirbusinesses. Employers should be targetedthrough the press and specialist trade magazines.The DfES and the LSC should seek to engageemployer organisations, including the CBI, tradeassociations and chambers of commerce as wellas NTOs, to inform employers aboutapprenticeship and how they can participate.There is also a range of other networks whichcould be used to promote modernapprenticeships to employers, including the newemployer-led training networks which arefocusing on helping small and medium sized firmsto work together and meet their training needs.Those employers who take on modernapprentices should receive explicit and tangiblerecognition. The creation of an identifiable‘marque’ should be considered by the LSC as ameans of doing this.

9.21 Trade unions working jointly with employerscan, and in many cases already do, make amajor contribution to stimulating the supply ofhigh quality apprenticeship places and toadvising on quality and the nature of individualtraining plans. The growing network of unionlearning representatives have a vital role to playthrough their presence in the workplace, and webelieve that they are an important audience forthe supply of factual information aboutapprenticeship.

9.22 The shape of the campaign would bebroadly the same in 2003 and 2004 as in the firstyear. However, once awareness targets hadbeen reached, it would be necessary to changethe broadcast messages to establishing thecredentials of the brand. It should also bepossible to diminish the amount of employeractivity in years two and three, if substantial in-

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roads are made with this audience in year one.However, we would expect the level ofcommunication with young people and thosethat influence them to remain the same eachyear. The cost of the national advertisingcampaign would be about £6 million in 2002, and£16 million over three years. This is less than 1% ofthe total programme budget.

9.23 There may also be a need, especially in2003 and 2004, for specific regional and sectoralcampaigns. The LSC should run special localmarketing campaigns aimed at employers inareas which have a shortage of apprenticeshipplaces. The LSC should also sponsor campaigns,usually through the relevant NTOs, in sectorswhich have a relatively weak up-take ofapprenticeship, having undertaken a diagnosis ofthe causes. Early candidates might be:

• sales assistants and representatives,

• financial and accounts clerks,

• information technology specialists,

• childcare workers, and

• health assistants,

all of whom are in occupations attractingconsiderable numbers of young people, each ofwhich has a relatively low penetration ofapprenticeship. There is also considerablepotential for expanding modern apprenticeshipplaces in the public sector including governmentdepartments, the health service and localgovernment.

9.24 NTOs should be able to propose specificmarketing campaigns aimed at employers forfunding by the LSC. In determining the case forsuch funding, the LSC should have regard to thecapacity of the NTO in question as well as theneed for places in that particular sector.

9.25 In addition to these activities,Apprenticeship Agents should be encouraged topromote apprenticeship to employers and youngpeople who might join their programmes. In orderto present a common ‘brand’ image, the LSCshould issue a marketing guide for agents,supporting it with local briefing sessions and

information leaflets. Such literature should alwaysinclude references to the expected duration ofapprenticeship, explain the role of the agent andinclude standard nomenclature and logodevices.

Celebrating achievement9.26 We believe that celebrating achievement isan important way of promoting modernapprenticeships and reinforcing their value. Whilemany schools and colleges organise awardceremonies for their students, young people onmodern apprenticeships often do not have suchopportunities to celebrate their achievements.LLSCs should therefore foster award ceremoniesin their areas to celebrate the achievement of theapprenticeship diploma by each modernapprentice who completes his or herapprenticeship successfully.

9.27 The charitable company UK SKILLS isuniquely placed to help celebrate achievementin modern apprenticeships, given its remit to helpthe UK raise its skills to world class levels and tosupport skills competitions and awards. Somesectors already celebrate modernapprenticeships, for example SKILLHOSPITALITYwhich has a Modern Apprentice of the Yearcompetition. In response to an approach from us,UK SKILLS has suggested that:

• It might publicise the achievements of modernapprentices at the World Skills competition. Forexample, a video could be made of modernapprentices competing against the best in theworld, which could be used to help promotemodern apprenticeships in schools andcolleges. Also, a special award could bemade at the National Training Awardceremony to the apprentice who hadachieved the most success at World Skills.

• It might introduce a modern apprentice classat the National Training Awards, for both anindividual and an apprentice trainingprogramme, from the 2002 competitiononwards. This could involve modernapprentice awards in key sectors, with theModern Apprentice of Year chosen from thewinners of the sector awards.

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• It might encourage the Further Education SkillsCompetition Council to give special attentionto marketing modern apprenticeships and todevelop modern apprentice classes within themany competitions that are held in FurtherEducation Colleges.

• It might produce a special series of casestudies about modern apprentices in skillscompetitions and awards.

• It might celebrate and showcase modernapprenticeships at the Skills Show 2002 inManchester and at subsequent shows. It ishoped that at least 80,000 young people willattend the 2002 show, many of whom will belooking for ideas about their future careers.

We recommend that the DfES should supportthese initiatives, which can contribute markedlyto raising interest in, and enthusiasm for, modernapprenticeships.

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10.1 Annex E contains the principalrecommendations of this report in the form of asuggested timetable. We do not consider thatfurther debate about the underlying principles isnecessary before implementation begins; rather,consultation with those affected should beundertaken as part of the implementationprocess. That said, the action plan will inevitablyneed to be adjusted as time goes on. In doing soit is important that the main elements do notbecome side-lined. Arrangements will need to bemade to keep the plan under review and tomonitor progress against it.

10.2 We recommend that the LSC should set upan executive group charged with co-ordinatingall aspects of apprenticeship, including thecarrying forward of this plan. As well asrepresentatives from each of the relevant LSCoperating divisions, that group might include atleast one LLSC Executive Director, an officer ofthe NTO National Council, a representative of theQCA, and DfES officers concerned with youngpeople’s training policy and publicity. The groupmight be chaired by the senior LSC officer whohas the overall lead on modern apprenticeships(suggested in Section 6). It might also beresponsible for the formal approval ofapprenticeship frameworks.

10.3 To give non-executive oversight of theoperation, and to act as national ‘champions’ ofapprenticeship, we recommend that theSecretary of State, jointly with the LSC, shouldestablish an advisory board on apprenticeship,with an independent chairman and not morethan ten other members, composed partly ofmembers drawn from organisations responsiblefor apprenticeship provision, and partly of

members with no such links but with relevantexperience and interests. The advisory boardshould draw to the attention of the LSC YoungPeople’s Learning Committee issues that itconsiders significant, and should submit periodicreports on progress in apprenticeship provision tothe Secretary of State and to the chairman of theLSC, and they should be published.

10.4 In Continental countries apprenticeship isfrequently enshrined in law. We have haddifferent traditions in this respect, but it is nolonger the case that apprenticeship operatesentirely outside statute; for example thequalifications included in apprenticeship areregulated by the QCA as part of its statutoryfunctions, and the funding of apprenticeshipforms part of the LSC’s statutory duty to provideproper facilities for young people to pursueeducation and training. While we would notrecommend that all aspects of apprenticeshipshould be subject to statute law, we areattracted to the idea that the principal institutionsof apprenticeship should have a statutory basis.That would lend status to this importantcomponent of the national education system,much of which is governed by law. It would alsogive a degree of confidence and surety to thosewho participate in apprenticeship, including notonly employers, young people and their parents,but also NTOs and apprenticeship agentsinvolved in delivery, that the main elements ofthe system would be maintained on a long-termbasis. We recommend that in three years’ timethe government should consider introducinglegislation to establish and define the roles of themain institutions concerned with apprenticeshipin England.

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10. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION PLAN

This is a full list of our recommendations. Thenumbers in square brackets refer to the relevantparagraphs in earlier sections.

A National Framework forApprenticeships (Section 4)1. The prime responsibility for developing,promoting and delivering modernapprenticeships should be assigned by theDepartment for Education and Skills (DfES) to theLearning and Skills Council (LSC), which should beaccountable to the Department for itsperformance and should annually secure thesupport of the Department for its forward plans.[4.2] The LSC and the Local LSCs (LLSCs) must beappropriately staffed and organised to carry outthis role, which will require a positive attitude toinnovation and a determination to learncontinuously from both successes andweaknesses in implementation. [4.3]

2. The LSC should establish a nationalframework for modern apprenticeships which willclarify their nature and strengthen the basicrelationship between employer and apprentice.This will need to cover the following ground: [4.4]

• Every modern apprenticeship should involve asigned apprenticeship agreement betweenan employer1 and an apprentice. Beforesigning the agreement employers shouldsatisfy themselves of the ability of applicants tocomplete the apprenticeship successfully, andapplicants should be fully aware of thecommitment entailed by apprenticeship. [4.4]

• The employer may seek the help of anApprenticeship Agent registered with the LSCin carrying out responsibilities set out in theframework. Apprenticeship Agents shouldaccept throughout an apprenticeship thattheir role is to advise and assist the parties tothe apprenticeship, but not to act asindependent principals. [4.4]

• The first eight weeks of apprenticeship shouldbe regarded as a period of probation, andthe apprenticeship agreement may be

terminated by either party without notice orimputation of bad faith during that period.[4.4]

• At the start of the apprenticeship theemployer should agree with the apprentice anindividual training plan covering the period ofthe apprenticeship. The plan will provide forboth on-the-job training with the employerand off-the-job learning arranged either bythe employer or an Apprenticeship Agent.[4.4]

• The requirements for entry to anapprenticeship and the attainments requiredfor successful completion of an apprenticeshipshould be laid down by National TrainingOrganisations (NTOs) for the sectors in whichapprenticeships are provided. NTOs shouldcomply with the following requirements inrelation to apprenticeships for which they areresponsible: [4.4]

Foundation Modern Apprenticeships(FMAs). Age of entry should be 16-19 (unlessthe Connexions or Employment Serviceshave specifically endorsed older trainees asbeing able to benefit). Guidance on theattainment needed for acceptance forentry to an FMA should be a matter to bedecided by the NTO. Normal duration of anFMA should be specified by the NTO, but theminimum duration acceptable forcompletion should be at least one year. Theminimum standard for successful completionshould be attainment of NVQ level 2 in therelevant occupation, plus satisfactory off-the-job attainments, i.e. key skills designatedby the NTO (at least at level 1 in numberand communication) and the relevanttechnical certificate (or attainmentsaccepted as equivalent or better by theNTO). Successful completion should securethe award of a Foundation ModernApprenticeship Diploma by the NTO.

Advanced Modern Apprenticeships(AMAs). Age of entry, 16-24. Guidance onthe attainment needed for acceptance forentry to an AMA should be a matter to be

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11. SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS

1 This may include employers acting collectively..

decided by the NTO. This should normallyadmit those who have successfullycompleted a relevant FMA. The normalduration of an AMA should be laid down bythe NTO, but the minimum durationacceptable for completion should be twoyears. The minimum standard for successfulcompletion should be attainment of NVQlevel 3 in the relevant occupation, plussatisfactory off-the-job attainments, i.e. keyskills designated by the NTO (at least atlevel 2 in number and communication) andthe relevant technical certificate (orattainments accepted as equivalent orbetter by the NTO). Successful completionshould secure the award of an AdvancedModern Apprenticeship Diploma by theNTO. There should be provision for anaccelerated option within the AMA, with aduration of not less than one year, for 18-24year old entrants who have alreadyattained the key skills laid down for AMAs inthe occupation concerned.

• For a slower learner, or for an apprentice whohas to re-take a test, it should be possible forthe period of apprenticeship to be extendedby agreement between employer andapprentice (and, where there are fundingconsequences, the LLSC). [4.4]

• The national framework should affirm supportfor the Modern Apprenticeships EqualOpportunities Plan and its implementationshould be vigorously followed up by the LSCand LLSCs. [4.4]

• Every apprenticeship should be registered bythe LSC. [4.4]

• The national framework should refer to theopportunities for apprentices to progress intohigher education, whether immediately afteror even during an advanced modernapprenticeship. [4.4]

3. Once apprenticeships for younger people arewell established, the government should considerthe case for opening AMAs to suitably qualifiedor experienced adults who would wish toundertake an apprenticeship to acquire the skillsthey need to secure or change their jobs. [4.5]

The Content and Certification ofApprenticeships (Section 5)

Content of apprenticeship4. Employers who have a direct contract withthe LSC for modern apprenticeships should beable to train to their own scheme where this hasbeen approved by the NTO as being at the samelevel, or more demanding, than the NVQrequired in the framework. Such ‘approvedschemes’ should involve periodic externalverification of systems and a sample of individualresults in the same manner as an NVQ,conducted by an awarding body familiar withsuch procedures. [5.3]

5. Where the QCA is satisfied, after properscrutiny of the requirements of a technicalcertificate, that the qualification also assesses aparticular key skill, young people who gain thattechnical certificate should be recognised ashaving also gained the key skill for the purpose oftheir apprenticeship framework and its relateddiploma. [5.5]

6. The LSC and the QCA should establish amechanism using information from NTOs andawarding bodies to track the development oftechnical certificates in each sector, wherebythey regularly notify LLSCs, colleges andApprenticeship Agents of the prospectivetimetable for implementation in the varioussectors. LLSCs should assure themselves that thecapacity will exist in colleges and otherspecialised learning providers to deliver coursesleading to technical certificates in eachframework offered in their areas. This should bedone on an annual basis, using the schedule oftechnical certificates anticipated for thefollowing year. [5.6]

7. NTOs which are in genuine doubt about whatthe contents of a technical certificate should beshould consider nominating a relevantintermediate GNVQ or vocational A Level to actas a technical certificate until such a time as theyhave a solid basis for developing a morespecialised qualification. [5.7]

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8. The QCA should encourage NTOs andawarding bodies to seek advice from highereducation institutions with expertise in theirsectors on what aspects might be incorporatedinto technical certificates in order to facilitateprogression. The DfES should encourage highereducation institutions developing foundationdegrees to seek advice from relevant NTOs sothat, where possible, the degree builds onqualifications earned through apprenticeship.[5.8] The Connexions Service and ApprenticeshipAgents should draw the attention of youngpeople to opportunities for professional study inhigher education related to their apprenticeships.Where young people have previously gained therelevant technical certificate and employers arewilling to release them, the LSC should beenabled to pay the necessary higher educationtuition fees for the first year. [5.9]

Certification9. The credential issued to mark completion ofthe FMA should be known as the ‘FoundationModern Apprenticeship Diploma’ and that forthe AMA should be called the ‘AdvancedModern Apprenticeship Diploma’. The followingarrangements should apply:

• The diplomas should be issued by, or on behalfof, NTOs, indicating clearly the framework inwhich success has been gained, but otherwiseconforming to a common format.

• The employer or Apprenticeship Agent shouldensure that apprentices continuing beyondthe probationary period are registered withthe relevant NTO.

• The diplomas should record the NVQ, key skillsand technical certificate gained as required inthe NTO’s framework, together with theapprentice’s employer; and further awardsgained during the course of theapprenticeship should also be recorded. [5.11]

Development work10. The LSC should take urgent action toidentify, develop and disseminate good practicein the following areas:

• the development of individual learning plansand their subsequent follow-up;

• the effective integration of key skills learninginto apprenticeship programmes;

• the effective integration of technicalcertificates and their testing intoapprenticeship programmes; and

• the accurate and sensitive assessment ofyoung people for whom pre-employmenttraining may offer a way forward into anapprenticeship or other employment. [5.13]

Delivery of Apprenticeships(Section 6)

The LSC11. In order to carry out fully its responsibility fordeveloping, promoting and delivering modernapprenticeships, the LSC:

• should develop, in consultation with NTOs andother partner organisations, a consistent long-term strategy for the development of modernapprenticeships;

• should lead national marketing campaignsdedicated to apprenticeship, supported byDfES and with the assistance of NTOs, ensuringthat properly branded and accurateinformation is freely available throughout thesystem;

• should agree with LLSCs their plans and thefunds available to support them;

• should monitor progress closely andinvestigate promptly areas, whethergeographical or sectoral, where weaknessesappear, and develop action to remedy them;

• should lead the development anddissemination of high quality solutions toproblems at critical points in the system;

• should monitor and promote equalopportunities within apprenticeship; and

• should foster throughout the system a cultureof commitment to continuous improvement inthe quality of apprenticeship as seen both byemployers and by young people. [6.3]

12. Each LLSC should have a clearly designatedsenior officer, with a job title common to all LLSCs,responsible for apprenticeship, supported by staff

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specialising in quality improvement andmarketing the programme. The local Councilitself should receive regular reports onapprenticeship, and its members should beencouraged to advise on promotion, andparticipate actively in it. [6.5]

Providing apprenticeships 13. The LSC, over time, should seek to developthe provider structure, so as to make it clearerwhat functions are expected to be performed byeach organisation, and to design fundingregimes which reflect their roles. [6.11]

14. The LSC should seek ways of offeringsimplicity of administration and flexibility offunding arrangements to employers capable ofoffering a full apprenticeship programme. Suchemployers should normally expect the costs ofoff-the-job training towards the technicalcertificate to be met by providers approved bythe LSC for that purpose and drawing fundingdirect from the LSC, but should be able to optinstead for a set payment to include all off-the-job training which they would arrange. [6.12]

15. The LSC should introduce a system ofregistering approved Apprenticeship Agentswhose help an employer may seek in carryingout the responsibilities set out in anapprenticeship framework. [6.13]

16. There should be two main types ofApprenticeship Agent: employer support agents;and programme-led agents. [6.14]

• The criteria for recognition of employersupport agents should be that they have:

– an identifiable group of employers in eachoccupation that they offer;

– an active stance to attracting furtheremployers;

– a practice of fully briefing employers on thecontents of apprenticeship and makingtheir role and obligations clear to them;

– a regular and frequent system for keepingin touch with apprentices and theiremployers to assess progress and to reviseplans; and

– a preparedness to refrain from working withemployers who do not fulfil their obligations.

These agents should receive a set sum for theservices they provide, namely promotion,recruitment of trainees, briefing of employers,helping to develop individual training plans,assessment and trainee support. The sumshould be worked out with regard to typicalcosts of these activities; the costs together withthe expected levels of service on which theyare based should be published. The LSCshould consider the merits of making incentivepayments, through employer support agents,to employers whose trainees gain anapprenticeship diploma. Courses leading totechnical certificates, tuition in key skills, orhigher education should be fundedseparately, with providers of such coursesdrawing funding from the LSC in the samemanner as they would for students outsideapprenticeship. [6.15]

• The criteria for recognition of programme-ledagents should be that they should:

– be able to offer training relevant to a widerange of occupations with supportingcourses of general education;

– have the capacity for intensive support inkey skills;

– have access to a wide range of local workplacements;

– make regular contact with trainees duringon-the-job spells;

– have a capacity for the initial assessment oftrainees and continued pastoral support;and

– have extensive community links in order tobe able to arrange periods of employmentwith public and voluntary organisations tocomplete on-the-job requirements notcovered elsewhere.

These agents would draw down funding forthe off-the-job elements, and receive a furthergrant for the procurement and support of on-the-job elements with employers. [6.20]

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Management information17. The LSC should incorporate the followingelements into its management information systemfor modern apprenticeships:

• There should be a common system throughoutthe country for the planning of apprenticeshipplaces, with advance notification by theConnexions Service to the LLSC of theprospective number of young people whowish to enter apprenticeship, by locality andby occupational grouping, and notification bythe LLSC to the Connexions Service of thenumber of available places in each locality,again broken down by occupation.

• Details of all employers participating inapprenticeship should be held by the LSC,coded by locality and the frameworks theyoffer. This database should be available toNTOs and the Connexions Service.

• Records should be kept of the number ofapprentices who complete their fullapprenticeship as part of the LSC’s individualstudent record system. [6.24]

Pre-employment and ‘OtherTraining’ (Section 7)

Pre-employment training18. There should be pre-employment provisionto cater for young people who are not ready toenter apprenticeship or other employment. Itmight be known as ‘Entry to Employment’ (E2E).[7.4] It should be developed on the followingbasis:

• E2E providers should offer a range ofoccupational and social training, selecting themost appropriate mix for each trainee. Thisshould normally include basic skills. [7.6]

• LLSCs should estimate the likely need for E2Eprovision in particular areas and fund thereasonable costs of the capacity required toaccommodate this need, adjusting thecapacity and necessary costs on a year-to-year basis. [7.7]

• The LSC should network with E2E providers toenable them to learn from each other’s

experience, develop curriculum approaches,and devote special attention to developinginitial assessment techniques. [7.8]

• In the case of young people considered afterassessment and/or initial training not to becapable of progressing to apprenticeship, theE2E provider should devise a programmedesigned to result in settled employment. [7.9]

• All young people undertaking programmeswith E2E providers should do so on the basis ofa decision specifically endorsed by theConnexions Service. The Connexions Serviceshould also specifically endorse laterjudgements that particular young people arenot realistically likely to be able to undertakean apprenticeship. [7.10]

‘Other Training’ at Level Two and above19. The LSC should provide a facility, throughApprenticeship Agents, to meet the assessment(but not the training) costs of NVQs at level 2 orabove of young employees. [7.11]

Timing20. The LSC National Office should urgentlyidentify particular sectoral work-based trainingschemes for young people at present in forcewhich it is unlikely to be possible to put on asatisfactory long-term basis before September2002, and the DfES should accept that in thesecases support for work-based training short ofapprenticeship should continue for a limitedperiod. [7.12]

Targets and Entitlements (Section 8)

Targets21. We propose the following targets for thedevelopment of modern apprenticeships:

• A reasonable longer term target would be for35% of young people to enter modernapprenticeships by 2010. [8.3]

• The target for 2004 should be for 28% of youngpeople to enter apprenticeship before theage of 22, i.e. some 175,000 young peopleaged 16 to 21 entering a modern

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apprenticeship for the first time in the yearbeginning September 2004. [8.6]

• Efforts to September 2002 should concentrateespecially on the substitution of modernapprenticeship places for ‘Other Training’ atlevel 2 and above. [8.8]

• By September 2003, all apprenticeship placesshould have employed status. [8.9]

• A target for apprenticeship completionsshould be established by the LSC, in discussionwith the DfES, once data on which to base thisbecomes available. [8.11]

Entitlements22. There should be a basic entitlement to amodern apprenticeship place for young peopleaged 16 or 17 who have five GCSEs (at grades Ato G) including maths and English. This entitlementshould apply also to those assessed as suitable forapprenticeship as a result of an Entry toEmployment course and who have attained thekey skills of communication and application ofnumber at level 1. This basic entitlement shouldcome into force from September 2004. [8.12]

23. All young people who are considered by theConnexions Service to need an E2E programmeshould be entitled to a place from September2002. [8.13]

24. In 2004, the LSC should review the feasibilityof an entitlement to a place on an AMA for 16and 17 year olds with five good GCSEs includingmaths and English. [8.15]

25. Young people aged 16 or 17, and thoseyoung people who successfully complete anFMA at the age of 19 or earlier, should be entitledto financial support in an AMA should they securea place with an employer. This entitlement shouldobtain from September 2004. [8.16]

Promotion of Apprenticeship(Section 9)

Factual information26. The following measures should be taken tomake information about modern apprenticeships

readily available to young people, their parentsand those who advise them:

• The LSC should commission from the NTOs aclear description, in a factual style and to acommon format, of the contents of eachframework in a manner which can beunderstood by interested teachers,Connexions Service personal advisers andemployers. NTOs should also producedescriptions of their frameworks aimed atyoung people and their parents. Both sets ofdescriptions should be printed in a series ofleaflets with a common house-style and alsolodged on a central website managed by theLSC, and NTOs should display the descriptionson their websites. Stocks of the leaflets shouldbe distributed to careers teachers, theConnexions Service, the Small Business Serviceand Apprenticeship Agents. Folders containingthe series of leaflets should be distributed toschool Careers Libraries. [9.3]

• NTOs should produce simple descriptions ofthe career paths within their sectors, includingdetails of likely wage rates and employmentopportunities, and also routes to relevanthigher education courses and professionaldevelopment opportunities for those whomight wish to pursue them after anapprenticeship. [9.4]

• The LSC should support a system whichincludes a website where the vacanciesoffered by employers, their ApprenticeshipAgents and frameworks offered can beviewed, with details as to how to apply foreach one and links to the national information(described above) on the content offrameworks. The Connexions Service shouldpublicise this website. [9.5]

27. There should be concerted action toaddress imbalances between the participation ofyoung men and young women in particularsectors:

• NTOs should ensure that, in sectors wherethere is currently a significant genderimbalance, leaflets and other publicationsshould promote the participation of those whoare currently under-represented, whether maleor female.

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• The LSC and the Connexions Service, actingjointly and where appropriate with a relevantNTO, should mount projects in identified sectorsand localities designed to increase participationby under-represented groups. [9.6]

28. The Connexions Service should aim to ensurethat a personal adviser speaks to each youngperson aged 15 who shows an interest inapplying for apprenticeship the following year.[9.7] The Connexions Service National Unit shouldkeep under review the adequacy and objectivityof careers education and guidance in schools inthe light of a published framework of standardsand curriculum. [9.8]

29. The following measures should be taken toprovide employers with information aboutmodern apprenticeships and how to participate:

• LLSCs should actively promote themselves asthe prime contact point for employers wishingto participate in apprenticeship, and shouldhave a mechanism for speedily referring theemployer to a relevant Apprenticeship Agent.[9.9]

• The Small Business Service should issueinformation on apprenticeship to interestedemployers with whom it is in contact, and bein a position to advise on whichApprenticeship Agents could support theemployer. [9.9]

• NTOs should issue an initial welcome pack tonew employers, briefly explaining the contentof the framework, the role of the NTO indevising it, and the mechanisms forcontributing to its revision. The pack shouldalso describe the NTO’s procedures for theregistration of apprentices, and for the issue ofapprenticeship diplomas. NTOs should notifyexisting employers of any changes to theirapprenticeship frameworks. The LSC shouldpay NTOs for this activity. [9.10]

• LLSCs should require all Apprenticeship Agentssupporting frameworks to register thoseapprenticeships with the relevant NTOs. NTOsshould develop methods for consulting withApprenticeship Agents about reviews of theirframeworks, and for notifying them whenchanges are made. [9.10]

Branding and targeting30. There should be a major national marketingcampaign, undertaken by the LSC and DfESjointly, to build the modern apprenticeship brand,add value to the currency of modernapprenticeships and increase take-up by youngpeople and employers:

• The marketing campaign should run eachyear for three years, building up to theintroduction of the entitlement in 2004. [9.12]

• The marketing campaign should besynchronised and integrated with theimplementation of improvements to theinfrastructure that supports the delivery ofmodern apprenticeships. [9.12]

• The main target audience for the marketingcampaign should be 15 to 16 year olds whomight otherwise: pursue an employmentpathway (whether actively or because theydo not know what else to do); pursue atraining pathway but without a modernapprenticeship; or be unclear or undecidedabout their future and so stay on in educationby default. [9.13] In addition, the acceleratedoption for AMAs should be promoted to thosewho stay on in full-time education, but whomight wish to enter apprenticeship at 18. [9.14]

• Marketing should also reach and address:school and college teachers in general, careersteachers in particular, and Connexions Servicepersonal advisers; parents, friends, siblings andpeers of young people; and employers. [9.15]

• Modern apprenticeships should be definedand expressed as a single brand which shouldbe used with all audiences and in a consistentway. [9.16] The brand message shouldemphasise that being a modern apprenticemeans earning a valuable and recognisedqualification which gives young people ahead start in their careers. [9.17]

• The campaign should address ignoranceabout modern apprenticeships among all theaudiences through a high profile, ‘above-the-line’ promotional campaign using televisionand press. Promotional activity should also betargeted at the key points when youngpeople are thinking about their future, includingan annual apprenticeship recruitment event.

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[9.18] The campaign should also seek toactivate teachers, careers teachers andConnexions Service personal advisers by usingdirect marketing and the Internet to engagethese groups and provide them with theresources to advise young people. [9.19]

• Co-ordinated efforts should be made to signup employers by communicating the value ofmodern apprenticeships to their businesses.Employers should be targeted through thepress and specialist trade magazines. The DfESand the LSC should seek to engage employerorganisations, including the CBI, tradeassociations and chambers of commerce aswell as NTOs, to inform employers aboutapprenticeship and how they can participate.The creation of an identifiable ‘marque’should be considered by the LSC to recogniseemployers who take on modern apprentices.[9.20]

31. The LSC should run special local marketingcampaigns aimed at employers in areas whichhave a shortage of apprenticeship places. TheLSC should also sponsor campaigns, usuallythrough the relevant NTOs, in sectors which havea relatively weak up-take of apprenticeship,having undertaken a diagnosis of the causes.[9.22] NTOs should be able to propose specificmarketing campaigns aimed at employers forfunding by the LSC. [9.23]

32. Apprenticeship Agents should beencouraged to promote apprenticeship toemployers and young people who might jointheir programmes. In order to present a common‘brand’ image, the LSC should issue a marketingguide for agents, supporting it with local briefingsessions and information leaflets. [9.24]

Celebrating achievement33. LLSCs should foster award ceremonies intheir areas to celebrate the achievement of theapprenticeship diploma by each modernapprentice who completes his or herapprenticeship successfully. [9.25]

34. DfES should support the following initiativeswhich UK SKILLS has proposed to help promotemodern apprenticeships:

• UK SKILLS should publicise the achievements ofmodern apprentices at the World Skillscompetition.

• There should be a modern apprentice class atthe National Training Awards, for both anindividual and an apprentice trainingprogramme, from the 2002 competitiononwards.

• UK SKILLS should encourage the FurtherEducation Skills Competition Council to givespecial attention to marketing modernapprenticeships and to develop a modernapprentice class within the competitions thatwill be held in Further Education Colleges.

• UK SKILLS should produce a special series ofcase studies about modern apprentices in skillscompetitions and awards.

• The Skills Show 2002 and subsequent showsshould celebrate and showcase modernapprenticeships. [9.26]

Implementation of the Action Plan(Section 10)35. The LSC should set up an executive groupcharged with co-ordinating all aspects ofapprenticeship, including the carrying forward ofthis plan. [10.2]

36. The Secretary of State, jointly with the LSC,should establish an advisory board onapprenticeship, with an independent chairmanand not more than ten other members, composedpartly of members drawn from organisationsresponsible for apprenticeship provision, and partlyof members with no such links, but with relevantexperience and interests. The advisory boardshould draw to the attention of the LSC YoungPeople’s Learning Committee issues that itconsiders significant, and should submit periodicreports on progress in apprenticeship provision tothe Secretary of State and to the chairman of theLSC, and they should be published. [10.3]

37. In three years’ time the government shouldconsider introducing legislation to establish anddefine the roles of the main institutionsconcerned with apprenticeship in England. [10.4]

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Terms of ReferenceTo advise the Secretary of State and the Learning and Skills Council by the end of September 2001 on athree year action plan for the development, promotion and delivery of modern apprenticeships, and inparticular to report on:

(a) how best to promote modern apprenticeships to employers in different sectors;

(b) how best to ensure that all young people for whom a Modern Apprenticeship is an appropriatechoice can secure advice on and access to a high quality opportunity;

(c) how best to ensure that the quality of modern apprenticeships fully matches the standards set byleading nations world-wide;

(d) how to increase the knowledge and understanding that young people gain as part of their ModernApprenticeship and how to ensure that the Modern Apprenticeship diploma is valued and relevant,taking account of the other opportunities available to young people for vocational study;

(e) what targets should be set for achievement by September 2004;

(f) future arrangements for implementing the action plan, including the phasing out from September2002 of ‘Other Training’.

MembersSir John Cassels, CB (Chairman)

Paul Dermody Chief Executive, De Vere Group plc

Helen Edwards Chief Executive, National Association for the Care and Resettlement ofOffenders

Ian S Ferguson Chairman, Data Connection Ltd

Lord Layard Co-Director, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics

Frances O’Grady Head of Organization and Services, Trades Union Congress

Denis Reay Director, Human Resources, BT Wholesale

Jenny Rudge Chief Executive, Connexions Cornwall & Devon

Robert Winning Manager, UK Personnel, Shell International Ltd

AssessorsJohn Allbutt Department for Education and SkillsMartin Lamb Learning and Skills Council

SecretariatJohn West (Secretary)David Oatley (Assistant Secretary)

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ANNEX A: TERMS OF REFERENCE AND MEMBERSHIP

The Committee held discussions with, or received comments from, the following organisations:

Adult Learning Inspectorate

Association of Colleges

Association of Learning Providers

Birmingham & Solihull Local LSC

Confederation of British Industry

Confederation of Group Training Schemes

Connexions Service National Unit

Distributive National Training Organisation

Equal Opportunities Commission

Hereford & Worcestershire Local LSC

London Chamber of Commerce and Industry Examinations Board

National Training Organisations National Council

Qualifications & Curriculum Authority

Small Business Council

Trades Union Congress National Training Network

UK SKILLS

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ANNEX B: REPRESENTATIONS

Background1. The report’s recommendations on promotingmodern apprenticeships have been informed bymarket research into the awareness and views ofyoung people and their parents, teachers, careersadvisers and employers. The research wascommissioned on behalf of the Committee throughthe Central Office of Information and involved:

• a quantitative survey, undertaken byContinental Research, of the awareness andattitudes of the target groups towards modernapprenticeships;1 and

• focus groups, organised by Stimulating World,which explored in more depth the knowledgeof the target groups and their perceptions ofthe benefits and drawbacks of modernapprenticeships. Particular attention was givento the status of modern apprenticeships,attitudes to off-the-job training, and employerconcerns about bureaucracy.2

This annex describes the findings of the marketresearch.

Awareness and knowledge ofmodern apprenticeships2. The market research indicated that there wasa relatively good level of general awareness: 75%of employers, 63% of young people (aged 14 to17), 62% of parents, 89% of teachers and 94% ofcareers teachers were aware of modernapprenticeships. However, knowledge of theactual features and content of modernapprenticeships was often superficial. Whilemany people could correctly identify some of thekey features, this appeared to be the result oftheir general understanding of the concept ofapprenticeship, rather than in depth knowledgeof modern apprenticeships.

3. For example, the research indicated thatwhile almost all young people (92%) were awarethat modern apprenticeships involved training in

a specific occupation, they were often ignorantor uncertain about other elements. The surveyfound that over a quarter (27%) of young peoplewere not aware that apprentices are paid whilethey are trained, and less than a third (31%) wereaware of the likely duration. The focus groupsrevealed an even greater level of ignoranceamong some young people who assumedmodern apprenticeship was a training schemefor manual jobs only, and were unaware that itinvolved achieving a recognised qualification orthat it covered a wider range of sectors thantraditional apprenticeships.

4. Parents also lacked in depth knowledge ofmodern apprenticeships and their perceptionwas often shaped by familiarity with old styleapprenticeships. Most thought modernapprenticeships were likely to involve acquiring auseful qualification (95% thought this was likely),involve earning while learning (93%) and lead toa job with good prospects (91%). However, it wasclear from the focus groups that information onmodern apprenticeships was not getting throughto parents, and the survey found that only 28%believed that modern apprenticeships had beenpresented to their child as an option. Parentswanted more promotional activity aimed atthem, including direct mailings rather thanleaflets sent via their children.

5. Those advising young people also identifiedlack of information as a problem. 35% of careersadvisers thought that information on modernapprenticeships was patchy and that they hadto pull it together themselves, and 79% ofteachers thought that lack of information waslikely to be a barrier to take-up by young people,with 42% classifying it as a significant barrier. Thefocus groups revealed particular concernsamong careers teachers in schools who, lackingdetailed information on the content offrameworks and on local apprenticeshipopportunities, did not feel confident about

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ANNEX C: MARKET RESEARCH

1 The quantitative survey involved telephone interviews with: 500 14 to 17 year olds; 505 parents of 14 to 17 year olds; 103 careersadvisers; 200 teachers and head teachers responsible for careers advice to pupils aged 14 to 17; and 501 employers from businessesof 20 or more employees.

2 There were 17 focus groups: eight for 15 to 18 year olds, split by age, gender, GCSE achievement and post-16 routes; four forparents of 15 to 17 year olds, split by their children’s age and GCSE achievement; three for careers advisers and careers teachers;and two for employers.

recommending modern apprenticeships to theirpupils. Even careers advisers felt they haveinsufficient information on individual frameworks,as opposed to general literature, and that theydid not always know what apprenticeshipopportunities exist in their areas. A telling pointfrom a focus group of young people currently onmodern apprenticeships was that they enteredwithout initial information on what they couldexpect to cover during the period of theirapprenticeship.

6. Among employers awareness tended toincrease with company size, and knowledge ofthe features of modern apprenticeship wasunderstandably strongest amongst those whosecompanies had participated or wereparticipating. Most employers were aware thatmodern apprenticeships involved trainingtowards an NVQ (85% aware), Governmentsupport for the costs of training (75%), off-the-jobtraining (72%) and an employment contract(67%). However, there was a demand for moreinformation that went beyond generalpromotional literature and that described howemployers could become involved and the levelof commitment they would have to make.

7. A notable feature of all the focus groups wasthat when young people and parents were toldabout the main elements of modernapprenticeships they showed considerableinterest and were eager to learn more. Evenyoung people (and their parents) who wereexpecting to take A levels wanted to know aboutmodern apprenticeships as they felt it couldprovide them with another option. A commontheme was a desire for more detailedinformation, especially about the content offrameworks.

Attractiveness of modernapprenticeships8. The market research found thatapprenticeships were seen as attractive by bothemployers and young people. Features thatappealed to most employers included the youngperson undertaking useful work for the company(strongly appealing for 80% of employers

surveyed), securing the future skills of thecompany (77%), Government support towardsthe cost of the apprenticeship (74%) and trainingthat led to a qualification (73%). Apprenticeshipas an aid to the recruitment of young people(56%) was found to be less significant, though inthe focus groups employers indicated that bytaking on modern apprentices they couldimprove the image of their company as a goodplace to work.

9. For young people the most attractive featureswere getting a qualification (strongly appealing to91%), proper training (90%), earning while learning(89%) and the prospect of a skilled job (89%).Careers advisers confirmed that these featureswere important to young people, although theythought that earning while learning (92%) wasmore important than the qualification (86%). Thefocus groups supported the survey findings. Beingpaid, achieving a recognised qualification andsecuring employment were particularly importantfor young people who were not expecting toperform well in their GCSEs. For higher achievers,the range of sectors, beyond traditional manualoccupations, was also an appealing feature.Although the survey found that, among all youngpeople, spending most of time in the workplacewas less important than the other features (beingstrongly appealing to only 63%), the focus groupsrevealed that being in the adult world of work andgaining practical experience were particularlyimportant for young people who did not enjoyschool work and were considering, or alreadyparticipating in, an apprenticeship.

Off-putting features: deciding on a career10. The survey found that there were fewfeatures of modern apprenticeships that were off-putting to more than about a quarter ofrespondents. The most frequently cited off-puttingfeature was having to decide on a career beforestarting – given the occupational nature ofapprenticeship, this finding was not surprising, as adegree of commitment to a career path isprobably inevitable. Just under a third of youngpeople identified this as a particular problem,while 23% of careers advisers and 32% of teachers

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thought it was likely to be a significant barrier toyoung people. 98% of careers advisers said theywere likely to recommend apprenticeship tothose who had firmly decided on a career ortrade, with 79% being very likely to do so. 72% ofteachers thought that modern apprenticeshipswere most appropriate for those who had madeup their minds what they wanted to be.

11. The focus groups indicated that for thoseyoung people who did not know what careerpath they wanted to follow, staying on ineducation was often the default (and theeasiest) option, even for those who were notachieving academic success or enjoying schoollife. These young people were often unconfidentabout their future, and staying on gave themanother two years before making hard decisionsabout their career paths. They were also afraidthat if they entered employment at 16 theywould be stuck in a job they did not like andwould be unable to move. For similar reasons,many parents and careers teachers were likely toencourage young people to stay on ineducation and keep their options open. Thissuggests that it will be important, as part of anymarketing strategy, to overcome the perceptionthat, by opting for modern apprenticeships,young people are tying themselves to aparticular job and will not be developingtransferable skills or able to progress.

Status of modern apprenticeships12. Although the survey indicated that the mainfeatures of modern apprenticeships wereattractive to most young people and that therewere few negative features, the focus groupsrevealed that apprenticeships were neverthelessregarded as a poor alternative to staying on infull-time education. They found that many youngpeople who were not expecting to do well intheir GCSEs had not considered theapprenticeship option and were intending tocontinue in education, even though manythought that they would not be able to copewith A levels. They believed that if they left schoolat 16 they would be at a disadvantagecompared with those with A levels and theywanted to be convinced that apprenticeships

would help them to climb the careers ladder aseasily as if they had A levels. Furthermore, theyfelt under pressure from parents, teachers andtheir peers to attempt A levels, and they thoughtthat if they were to do an apprenticeship theywould be going against the grain and becomeisolated from their friends in Sixth Forms or FurtherEducation Colleges. The same issues arose infocus groups of high achievers who wereexpecting to perform well at A level and hopingto go on to higher education. They wereparticularly interested in higher levelapprenticeships and the opportunities they mightoffer for progression to Foundation Degrees.

13. Young people who were considering amodern apprenticeship or already on theprogramme also expressed uncertainty abouttheir status. They felt that their parents and friendsdid not understand what apprenticeshipentailed, and they wanted modernapprenticeships to become more widely knownand respected.

14. The views of parents reflected those ofyoung people. The survey found that 60% ofparents would encourage their children to do amodern apprenticeship if they wanted to doone, and only 6% would discourage them.However, in the focus groups, the majority ofparents were keen for their children to stay on ineducation whether or not they were likely toachieve good grades at GCSE. They believedthat A levels would give their children theopportunity to go to university or a better chanceof getting a job, and were concerned about thecurrency of modern apprenticeships and NVQs.

15. Concerns about the status of modernapprenticeships were also found among careersadvisers and teachers. On the one hand most ofthe careers advisers and teachers surveyed didnot believe that modern apprenticeships werejust for low achievers and those who were notacademically minded. And just over half of theteachers disagreed with the statement thatapprenticeships are suitable only for those whowill not go to university. However, 73% of teachersthought the perceived status of modernapprenticeships was a barrier to take up (with

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33% seeing it as a significant barrier), and 70%thought that the fact that staying on ineducation was increasingly the norm was abarrier (with 37% seeing it as a significant barrier).The focus groups found that, even thoughcareers teachers in schools thought that modernapprenticeships could be valuable, particularlyfor those struggling with academic qualifications,there was considerable pressure from parentsand pupils to recommend staying on in full-timeeducation. Some careers teachers also pointedto pressures within schools to encourage youngpeople to stay on in their Sixth Forms. Thissuggests that some careers advisers and teachersmay feel constrained from promoting modernapprenticeships to young people even whenthey believe they are a suitable option.

Off-the-job training and written tests16. In view of concerns that have beenexpressed about increasing the taught elementof modern apprenticeships, the market researchlooked at attitudes to off-the-job training andwritten tests. The survey found that 9% of youngpeople thought that ‘hard work studying andlearning’ (which, of course, could also includelearning at the workplace) was a strongly off-putting feature, and that only 12% thoughthaving to go to college was strongly off-putting.Furthermore, relatively few careers advisersthought that these features were likely to put offyoung people – 20% thought that hard workstudying and learning would be off-putting and18% going to college.

17. In the focus groups, more off-the-job trainingand written tests did raise some fears about‘going back to school’ among those who wereconsidering or already doing apprenticeships.However, they believed that the enhancedtaught element was worthwhile as it would leadto tangible benefits and make them moreattractive to future employers. As noted above,gaining recognised qualifications was found tobe the most attractive element of modernapprenticeships for young people, and theintroduction of technical certificates could helpto assuage concerns about the status of

apprenticeships and the transferability ofknowledge and skills. Those who had struggled atschool would, however, expect to receiveappropriate support.

18. Among the employers surveyed only 23%thought that releasing trainees for courses was astrongly off-putting feature of modernapprenticeships. In the focus groups, there wassome initial scepticism among employers notcurrently involved in modern apprenticeshipsabout the value of training away from theworkplace, but on probing they admitted thatday release was worthwhile if they received awell educated and trained employee in return.

Employers’ concerns aboutbureaucracy19. The survey found that for employers the mostoff-putting feature of modern apprenticeshipswas the bureaucracy and red-tape involvedwhich was rated as a strong factor by 54% ofemployers surveyed. However, those who hadhad experience of apprenticeship were less likelyto cite this as an off-putting feature – 42%compared with 58% who had had no contactwith the programme.

20. When bureaucracy was discussed in thefocus groups, employers tended to accept thatthere would be a certain amount of paper work,although they wanted to be reassured that thiswould be kept to a minimum. They alsoaccepted that they would lose some controlover the trainee and that they would beinspected (in the survey only 24% said thatexternal inspection was a significant off-puttingfeature). Indeed, they felt external monitoringwas important to guarantee quality and protectthem from accusations of exploiting youngpeople. They also saw inspectors and externalagents as a useful source of information andguidance. What was most important toemployers was that there should be clarity aboutthe level of commitment they would need tomake, and that there was an identified personwho could help them with the administration ofthe apprenticeship.

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Conclusions21. Overall the market research suggests there isa relatively high level of general awareness ofmodern apprenticeships and that their keyfeatures are seen as attractive. However, theimage of apprenticeships is rather vague,particularly compared with full-time educationoptions, and there is a lack of in-depth knowledgeabout what they contain and how to accessthem. Even some careers advisers and teachersdo not appear to have the facts and argumentsto explain modern apprenticeships to youngpeople and parents. This suggests there is a needboth to connect people with the vision of modernapprenticeships and to provide them with moredetailed information. There is also a need tocounter some of the negative beliefs and feelingsattached to apprenticeship. Some of these relateto perceptions that apprenticeships are availableonly in a limited number of male-dominated

manual occupations. But there is also a fear that ifyoung people undertake modern apprenticeshipsthey will be ‘trapped’ in a specific job, closedown their career options and lose out in the longrun to those with A levels.

22. The market research therefore suggests thatpromotional activity needs to fill the informationgaps and present a positive image ofapprenticeship. This would involve providingdetailed information on the content of eachframework (in a common format) and localapprenticeship opportunities. It also importantthat young people know that as they progressthrough their apprenticeship they will acquirevaluable skills and qualifications which are usefulbeyond their immediate jobs, and that there areopportunities for further professional developmentand even entry to higher education.

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ANNEX D: PARTICIPATION BY FRAMEWORK AND GENDER

Sector Number in training % of

as % of all on: young women in:

AMA FMA AMA FMA

Engineering Manufacturing 13 4 2 3

Business Administration 11 15 81 77

Customer Service 8 11 69 67

Construction 7 7 1 2

Motor Industry 7 4 1 2

Electrical Installation Engineering 7 # 1 *

Hotel & Catering 7 11 50 50

Health & Social Care 6 6 89 89

Hairdressing 6 10 93 94

Retailing 4 13 58 60

Childcare 4 3 98 96

Accountancy 3 1 61 58

Plumbing 2 1 1 1

Travel Service 2 # 89 84

Telecommunications 1 # 14 58

Information Technology 1 4 22 16

Heating, Ventilation,

Air Conditioning & Refrigeration 1 # 1 1

Printing 1 # 7 9

Road Haulage & Distribution 1 # 14 18

Management 1 # 59 *

Data relate to numbers in training on 25 March 2001

# = less than 0.5%.

* = not applicable

Source: DfES Work-Based Training for Young People Trainee Database

This table shows the significant imbalances in the participation of young men and young women acrosstwenty selected sectors. It shows (a) the relative size of each sector in terms of the numbers in trainingas a proportion of all foundation or advanced modern apprentices, and (b) the proportion of youngwomen in training. (For example, 13% of all advanced modern apprentices are in the engineeringmanufacturing sector, and 2% of advanced modern apprentices in this sector are female.)

ANNEX E: TIMETABLE FOR IMPLEMENTATION

The following is a suggestion, quarter by quarter, for a timetable for implementation of the mainrecommendations contained in the report over the next three years. We appreciate that proper projectplanning will be needed in order to confirm a precise implementation plan, but consider that if the datesbelow are not met, there will be likely to be difficulties in meeting the targets that we have proposed.

Period Responsible Items Report Organisation Section

Quarter 4: LLSCs Planning for apprenticeship programme for 2002/3 as part 52001 of local strategic plans, including capacity of colleges to

deliver technical certificates due to come on stream in 2002

DfES, jointly Establish advisory board on apprenticeship 10with LSC

LSC Identify sectors involved in ‘Other Training’ where an 7apprenticeship framework is required and appropriate

Quarter 1: LSC Commission development work on priority areas 52002

DfES and LSC Launch of major national marketing campaign 9

LSC, with Commission examination of problems of poor take-up 9relevant NTOs in specific areas

Quarter 2: LSC Formal establishment of national framework of apprenticeship, 42002 including rules for probation and templates for training plans

and apprenticeship agreements

LSC and NTOs Website and series of leaflets available describing individual 9frameworks

LSC Issue marketing guide for apprenticeship agents 9

Quarter 3: LLSCs and NTOs Apprentices and their employers to be registered with LSC 4, 92002 and relevant NTO

LLSCs Introduction of capacity for ‘approved schemes’ in sectors 5with technical certificates

LSC New funding arrangements for Apprenticeship Agents 6

LSC Recognition of Entry to Employment courses, with funding 7arrangements

LSC Facility for NVQ assessment costs of young employees not in 7apprenticeship to be met

Quarter 4: NTOs NTOs have capacity to issue Apprenticeship Diplomas in 52002 sectors with technical certificates

LSC Full details of completed apprenticeships kept 6

UK SKILLS UK SKILLS introduce modern apprenticeship class in National 9Training Awards and in Skills Show 2002

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Period Responsible Items Report Organisation Section

Quarter 1: LSC Common planning system for annual apprenticeship 62003 programme in LLSCs

LSC Website with employers, apprenticeship agents and 9descriptions of frameworks

Quarter 2: Connexions Connexions personal advisers to contact each young 92003 Service person aged 15 who shows interest in apprenticeship

Quarter 3: LSC Introduction of accelerated option within AMAs 42003

LSC All apprenticeship places to have employed status 8

LSC and First annual recruitment event 9Connexions Service

Quarter 4: LSC LSC to set targets for completed apprenticeships 82003

Quarter 1: 2004

Quarter 2: 2004

Quarter 3: LSC Introduction of entitlement to an apprenticeship place for 82004 16 and 17 year-olds, and to financial support in an AMA for

16 and 17 year-olds and FMA completers at age 19 or earlier

Quarter 4: LSC Review whether to introduce entitlement to AMA place for 82004 16 and 17 year-olds

DfES Consider whether to place apprenticeship institutions on 10a statutory basis

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© Crown Copyright 2001

Produced by the Department for Educationand Skills Extracts from this document may bereproduced for non-commercial education ortraining purposes on condition that the sourceis acknowledged.

Additional copies of this Consultation Papermay be obtained from:

Department for Education and SkillsPublications CentrePO Box 5050SudburySuffolkCO10 6ZQ

Tel: 0845 602 2260Fax: 0845 603 3360E-mail: dfes@prolog.uk.com

This report is also available on the Internet fromthe DfES web site at www.dfes.gov.uk/ma.consultation

ISBN: 1 84185 632 0

PP80D10/44921/1001/14

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