Analysis of Apprenticeship Levy Consultation

In October 2015 the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) conducted a consultation on the Government’s plans to introduce an apprenticeship levy designed to encourage more employers to invest in apprenticeships and support the achievement of the target of 3 million apprenticeships by 2020. CFE collected and analysed over 750 responses to the consultation on behalf of BIS. Responses to the consultation were submitted in a variety of formats including via an online survey designed and administered BIS, email and in hard copy.

CFE inputted (where necessary) and collated the responses. The primarily qualitative data was coded thematically so that issues and trends could be quantified and analysed statistically to give an indication of scale. The findings were presented in a report to BIS to inform the further development of the levy policy.

Key project contact

John Higton

John joined CFE in October 2014 and became a Research Director two years later. CFE’s research and evaluation studies concerning the economy and further education fall under John’s leadership, alongside CFE’s wider educational offer. John strongly contributes to teaching policies including evaluation financial incentive schemes targeting teacher recruitment and retention, and professional development activity across all educational phases. Higher education policy areas such as open access to research and impact analyses of nationally important data collections are also areas of research interest. John leads many of CFE’s market-sizing studies, research with employers and many of CFE’s behavioural insight projects.

Contact: john.higton@cfe.org.uk