Vocational Qualifications Reform Plan — Statement

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:40 pm on 5 March 2014.

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Photo of Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon Lords Spokesperson (Department of Business, Innovation and Skills), Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip) 3:40, 5 March 2014

My Lords, with the permission of the House, I shall repeat a Statement made in another place by my honourable friend the Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise.

“With permission, Mr Speaker, I wish to make a Statement on the publication of our reform plan for vocational qualifications, which will significantly simplify and streamline the adult skills system, alongside apprenticeship reforms. This is National Apprenticeship Week, when we celebrate the onwards march of apprenticeships and their rejuvenation and expansion. We want it to become the new norm for young people to have the choice to go either to university or into an apprenticeship.

We have set out reforms to drive up the quality of apprenticeships and to introduce new apprenticeships in areas from space engineering to nursing, and today we set out plans to reform adult skills more broadly. This builds on the foundations provided by our reforms to schools, the introduction of tech levels and Doug Richard’s work into the future of apprenticeships. The vocational qualifications system had grown too complicated, bureaucratic and hard to understand. Even with the action have taken so far, there are some 15,800 regulated qualifications in England, 11,000 of which are eligible for government funding.

By November, we will have removed more than 6,500 qualifications not valued by employers from government funding, allowing nearly £200 million of funding to be redirected towards more effective qualifications. The reforms will also: give employers greater ownership of qualification design and standards; attract funding only if they are valued by employers; and offer learners meaningful progress in employment or further learning. At the same time, Ofqual will review the way vocational qualifications are regulated. We support vocational qualifications to help people into work. So we must focus support on those qualifications that employers value.

As a result of these reforms, qualifications in subjects like self-tanning, balloon artistry and instructing pole fitness will no longer attract government funding. We will examine the current system to see whether more flexible approaches, such as payment by results, might work better, particularly when we are dealing with unemployed people just coming back into education.

The reforms will also make the qualification system easier for learners and employers to use. A new system will be developed to allow people to see what is available. Funded qualifications will need to set out their purposes clearly and in non-technical language, and new qualifications will need to demonstrate that they have business support. We will monitor their track record over time, to make sure they are delivering employment and progression, and support only those qualifications that actually deliver for learners.

High-quality apprenticeships and adult qualifications are vital to our long-term economic plan and allow all people the chance to reach their potential. I commend this Statement to the House”.