Education and Skills

Education is important to everyone.  The education we receive helps shape our lives and those of our children, other family members and friends.  Education and skills are also vital to the nation’s standing and prosperity.  

Our work in this sector spans education and skills in early years, schools, further education and higher education, and includes the responsibilities of two government departments – Children, Schools and Families and Business, Innovation and Skills.

We audit the accounts of both departments and undertake examinations across the whole sector and beyond, so we are well placed to look at education and skills from the perspective of the learner moving through the system. Many people working in education particularly value our ability to gain insights from different parts of the sector and to come up with practical recommendations that make a difference.

Our work is designed to provide assurance on whether the billions of pounds of public money spent on education and skills are spent objectively and achieve the maximum benefit possible.  To further improve the delivery of education and skills, we also make use of lessons learnt from the work the NAO does in other parts of government.  For example, a previous report looked at procurement in further education colleges, and last year we examined two capital programmes – one in further education and one in schools.

Features

Independent assessments of Sector Skills Councils

Twenty-five Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) were established to reduce skills gaps and shortages, improve productivity, business and public service performance, increase opportunities to boost the skills and productivity of everyone in the sector’s workforce, improve learning supply including apprenticeships, higher education and National Occupational Standards.

The SSCs have been going through a process to determine whether their licences should be renewed. The National Audit Office has been conducting independent assessments of each of the SSCs, which the UK Commission for Employment and Skills is using to inform recommendations to Ministers as to whether each SSC should be relicensed.  

Progress in improving adult literacy and numeracy 

In June 2008 we reported on the Government’s strategy to improve adult basic literacy, language and numeracy skills, which has helped over 5.7 million adults achieve a qualification or other specified learning aim at a cost of £5 billion.

Read full article: Progress in improving adult literacy and numeracy  

Working with higher education to improve student retention

In July 2007 we reported that though most full-time undergraduates on higher education courses were generally ‘staying the course’, one in five were not completing their studies.  Our report identified scope for improvements, for example to support part-time students who face particular challenges and have lower rates of retention.

Read full article: Working with higher education to improve student retention

Accountability in the Higher Education Sector

The National Audit Office hosted a one day conference on 'Accountability in the Higher Education Sector' on 4 October 2006. For further information please see the Event Report (PDF 104 kb)