Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 12
12
Acknowledged
Overall, the FE Skills Index fell from 100 in 2012/13 to 54 in 2020/21, a...
Conclusion
Overall, the FE Skills Index fell from 100 in 2012/13 to 54 in 2020/21, a decrease of 46%, which means that the FE system was estimated as having a declining impact on productivity over the period. However, in 2020/21, the annual change in the Index was a rise of 7%. DfE analysis indicated that this increase was a result of learners shifting towards more economically valuable training, with the number of learners achieving their qualification remaining broadly flat.15
Government response summary AI-generated
The department advises against using the FE Skills Index as a sole indicator to measure performance, believing that stipulating an arbitrary target level of improvement for this index would not be a valuable measure of performance and could create issues about achievability.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government · verbatim extract
Acknowledged
2.2 The department advises against using the FE Skills Index as a sole indicator to measure performance. The department publishes the FE Skills Index annually – estimating how the economic value added by the 19+ FE and Skills system changes over time. 2.3 This is influenced by a range of factors including the number of achievements at different levels and in different subjects, and their associated earnings returns. It is not intended to be a timely measure for evaluating specific policy changes. The department believes that stipulating an arbitrary target level of improvement for this index would not be a valuable measure of performance and could create issues about achievability.
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