A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) says the government’s plans for three million new apprenticeships in England by 2020 should be honed to meet skills gaps.
The focus should be less on how many apprenticeships are created and more on which sector needs them, it adds.
A minister said employers are creating training places to meet their needs.
The report says the Department for Education (DfE), which was recently given overall responsibility for the apprenticeships programme, has not yet set out how the increase in apprenticeship numbers will lead to increased productivity.
Presently, it relies on market mechanisms to attract the right apprenticeships to address skills gaps in the economy.
The DfE is “therefore not directly involved in deciding where, or at what level, apprenticeships take place”.
For maximum benefit to the country, it adds, there needs to be “a clear rationale for how apprenticeships fit into the wider plan for productivity and growth”.
The report argues that “without this strategic underpinning, there is a clear risk that the drive to deliver greater numbers is delivered at the expense of delivering maximum value”.
The NAO report also stresses that the DfE has no way of checking how its programme is achieving its aims.
“There are no success measures in terms of, for example, how the programme is impacting on skills levels, addressing skills gaps or improving achievement rates,” it says.
But the report does note that the programme is in the early stages of a transition, and that it has been suggested a new Institute for Apprenticeships may take on the role of measuring success. Read more
