Report calls for new approach to monitoring and tackling inequality in skills training provision
The National Skills Forum has asked the Government to provide better education and training opportunities to offenders on remand and those serving short term sentences to help them into meaningful employment, re-integrate them into society and cut reoffending.
A six-month inquiry has uncovered evidence that not enough is being done to tackle the issue of ex offenders unable to secure work because of inadequate or irrelevant training leading to poor skills and a lack of qualifications.
With over half (52%) of male offenders and 71% of female offenders having no qualifications, and with GBP 30 million wasted each year on prisoners being transferred before they complete education courses, urgent improvements to the system are needed, The National Skills Forum said.
Improving education and skills alone could help cut reoffending and save up to GBP 325 million a year in the process.
The National Skills Forum made the call as part of its six-month inquiry into the links between skills training and the social exclusion of offenders, people with disabilities and black and minority groups. Just recently it emerged that unemployment is twice as high amongst young black people compared with their white peers.
Across all three of the social groups investigated, the inquiry found that a combination of inflexible funding and low expectations of peer groups and employers, alongside a government obsession with ‘ticking boxes’ over training provision, is to blame for a swathe of worklessness and social exclusion.
Gordon Marsden MP, inquiry co-chair, said: “We have to urgently expand our approach to training, skills and education for a generation of learners from disadvantaged or excluded groups. We must act to provide them with the kinds of educational and training opportunities that we provide to others to help boost their skills and improve their lives. That’s an absolutely vital requirement and message for any society wishing to make the best use of its talent and resources and to boost social inclusion.”
Jacqui Henderson CBE, inquiry co-chair and Director of Creative Leadership & Skills Strategies, added: “Getting training right is about giving people the skills they and potential employers actually need and raising expectations of what learners from disadvantaged or excluded groups can achieve. What emerged very clearly from the inquiry was that we must start with the needs of the learner rather than obsessing about targets and box ticking.
“That means putting in place simplified funding mechanisms that support people with disabilities into training and on into work and doing more to tackle negative or low aspirations around black and minority ethnic learners.”
Henderson observed that “Too many offenders are still falling through the cracks and going back into prison because they don’t have the right skills and opportunities to make that leap into employment. It is not simply enough that we recognise these perennial problems; we must take the kind of bold policy steps recommended by this inquiry to meet these people’s needs.”
The report calls for a new approach to monitoring and tackling inequality in skills training provision. For Black & Minority Ethnic Learners, it asks the Government to communicate more effectively to parents of BME learners the learning options and careers choices available. It also asks the Government (DCSF) and Training & Development Agency to address negative aspirations of BME learners by providing enhanced career guidance. The report urges the Office for Fair Access to encourage Russell Group universities to participate in careers guidance at institutions with a high BME student intake.
The report calls for greater use of release on temporary licence for work experience and work trials to boost ex-offenders’ employability. It calls for the creation of the employer network to share knowledge and best practice on employing ex-offenders.
The report asks the Government to include education & training as inherent part of sentencing process, especially for those on short-term sentences. It also recommends that participation in education & training should be made integral to the daily prison regime.
Government must raise investment in IT learning resources, such as the ‘Virtual Campus’ e-learning initiative to help offenders continue their education despite transfer between prisons, the report says.
The report says that employers and government should partner to encourage employers to promote equality and diversity and to target underrepresented groups within their sector. Government needs to simplify funding mechanisms to support disabled learners and reduce the bureaucratic burden on disabled learners, their families and employers wishing to access training, the report says. It also recommends that learners with disabilities be given greater access to training in a job related environment to help better prepare them for the world of work.
