Ofsted 'needs more money' to monitor apprenticeships

The education select committee, which is conducting an inquiry into how the government proposes to achieve its target of getting three million people into apprenticeships by 2020, heard that the watchdog is struggling to keep up with the growth of the apprenticeships sector. 

Joe Dromey, senior research fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research, told MPs that while numbers of apprenticeships are rising, Ofsted funding is in decline, meaning the inspectorate is struggling to keep up with inspection requirements.

Dromey said: "Someone's got to measure quality. Ofsted needs to be resourced at least commensurate with the increase in apprenticeship numbers and at the moment they seem to be going in opposite directions - a soar in numbers since 2010 and a significant reduction in capacity.

"Ofsted themselves have expressed a concern in their ability to regulate and inspect the growing number of apprenticeships, given that funding gap."

In Ofsted's 2016 report, 37 per cent of apprenticeships were rated as less than "good".

Dromey also told MPs that the decision of government to set a target of three million apprenticeships by 2020 "sounds good in a manifesto", but was a "bad policy".

He said: "Focusing on numbers at the same time as reducing inspection capacity… means that you risk getting quantity not quality."

Rather than just concentrating on the manifesto target, Dromey said there should be a focus on "improving productivity, improving progression and improving pay".