From education to employment

Post 16 Skills Report critical of brokerage system.

Train to Gain and its brokerage system have been criticised in an Education and Skills Select Committee report. The Post 16 Skills report says that Train to Gain brokers may be adding “an extra unwelcome layer of bureaucracy” to the system. Its thought that too much funding has gone to employers who would have paid for staff training anyway. Furthermore the report says it is not clear how Train to Gain brokerage assists in the development of relationships between providers and employers at a local level.

The Post 16 Skills report is broadly welcoming of the Government’s drive towards a demand-led skills system but has questioned the way in which it is achieving this. The report finds that training and skills should be just one element in a more coherent support system offered to employers to increase their business as a whole, including workforce planning and capital innovation.

The Committee remarked that the skills system was difficult for learners to navigate and recommended that adult Information Advice and Guidance was made more accessible as per the Leitch Report recommendations.

Sector Skills Councils also came in for criticism, their ability to represent the views of all size employers being questioned and the Committee expressed concern about the overlap between the numerous skills agencies.

The Skills Report recommends that the Government looks at the funding of ESOL as a matter of urgency to ensure the provision of ESOL language classes is not affected by new implementations.

Other recommendations contained in the report included extending the provision of training at levels 3 and 4 and at entry level as much that has been achieved is ay level two.

The skills drive that has been led by the Government was praised by the Committee but it stressed that DIUS must work closely with other departments to continue progress, and make sure that higher education was not allowed to dominate the agenda within the Department.


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