Home > News > May 2005 > 24-May-2005

LSC publishes its annual report on equality and diversity

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) committed over £1 billion to programmes that promoted equality of opportunity and greater diversity in the learning and skills sector in 2003-04, according to its Equality and Diversity Annual Report, published yesterday.

The report shows rising success rates for all ethnic minority groups and for women in both further education (FE) colleges and work based learning. Success rates for learners with learning difficulties and/disabilities in FE colleges also rose.

According to the report, significant progress is being made in increasing vocational learning among women, particularly those from ethnic minority backgrounds. The number of Black African women in further education rose by nearly 20% from 52,400 in 2002-03 to 61,800 in 2003-04, whilst the figure for women of British Bangladeshi backgrounds increased from 14,800 to 16,200 in the same timescale.

Chris Banks, LSC Chairman, said: "The LSC’s twin aims of improving productivity through skills development and promoting social inclusion go hand in hand. Together they will allow the nation to respond to key demographic changes that will impact on our ability to truly compete in a global market. Fifty per cent of the growth in the workforce will come from minority ethnic communities and of the 1.3 million jobs created over the next decade, over one million are expected to be taken by women.

"This report is further evidence of the LSC’s commitment to driving equality and diversity in the sector. The LSC’s newly established Equality and Diversity Committee is really driving forward this important agenda."

Shirley Cramer, Chair of the Equality and Diversity Committee and Chief Executive of the Dyslexia Institute, said: "Equality and Diversity should be embedded in all learning and skills sector activity, from the classroom to the shopfloor.

"The LSC report shows that significant strides are being made in driving equality of opportunity, but there is still some way to go. As chair of the new committee, I look forward to the task ahead of placing equality and diversity at the heart of the LSC’s strategy and ultimately removing race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation and religious barriers to vocational education."

Chris Banks added: "We are acutely aware that to ensure this country has the right skills, we need to ensure that young people and adults, whatever their background and specific needs, have access to good quality training. We want everyone to realise their potential, improve their life chances and contribute to economic growth."

Other findings from the report include:

* A total of 100,000 learners and 14,000 companies were involved in Employer Training Pilots by the end of 2004. Well over half (55.7 per cent) are women, nearly five per cent are British-Asian and over five per cent are black or black British. In some urban areas, take up by workers from ethnic minority backgrounds is above 25 per cent.

* Over 60,000 young people benefited the Entry to Employment (e2e) scheme from its start-up in 2002 to August 2004. The e2e scheme is aimed at supporting 16-18 year olds who are not involved in education, employment or training. According to the report, e2e has had a particularly positive impact on people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities with 19,970 (33 per cent) benefited in that period. In addition 10,000 people (17 per cent) were from a black or minority ethnic background and over 23,000 (38 per cent) were women.

* Just under £50 million was spent by the LSC on improving access to facilities in line with the Disability Discrimination Act. Nearly £6 million has been spent raising awareness of the Act among FE colleges and local education authorities.

* The LSC is working with the Apprenticeships Task Force to involve more under-represented people in Apprenticeships training and ensure gender ‘stereotypes’ are broken down. At present, for instance, only five per cent of engineering apprentices are female and only four per of cent of apprentices are from black and minority ethnic communities.

External link

The Equality and Diversity Annual Report 2003-2004 (information and download page)

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