Home > News > June 2004 > 18-Jun-2004

ALI unveils a new service to businesses

The Adult Learning Inspectorate (ALI) yesterday launched a new scheme to give employers the opportunity to have their workplace training independently assessed to a government-based national standard.

According to David Sherlock, Chief Inspector of Adult Learning: "Most training is done and paid for by employers for their own staff. The CBI and TUC estimate that British industry spends over £20 billion a year on training, yet few organisations are able to assess the quality or cost effectiveness of the training they offer. We will be providing a first class assessment of employers training programmes - opening the door to real quality".

The scheme, known as 'Commissioned Inspections', was piloted in three British companies last year - JCB, South West Trains and In Touch Care. It aims to improve the standard, effectiveness and value for money of in-house training - with potential gains in productivity.

The scheme has already won endorsement from the CBI who said, "High-quality training is critical to the enduring success of any company - and we are delighted to see that the ALI is now extending to independent companies the opportunity to call on its excellent service."

Adrian Davies, Career Strategies Manager for BMW Great Britain, recognises the value of an ALI report on their publicly funded training, "The report that the ALI produced on our training provision has given us a valuable insight into our strengths and assisted us in identifying further areas that we can target for continuous improvement. We consider training to be critical to the success of BMW and having a thorough, independent, assessment of our training provision helps us to maintain a consistently high quality."

As the scheme gathers momentum, the ALI are aiming to provide the first comprehensive picture of workforce development and give a true comparison between private and public sector learning. The first chance to report on findings will be in next year's ALI annual report.

David Sherlock explains: "The Department for Education and Skills requested that we offer the service for two reasons. We can offer advice on improving training in the private sector by using the proven methods that have been so successful in our inspection of publicly funded training. The evidence that we collect from private businesses will also enable us to build up a picture of training across the country as a whole. It's win-win for everyone, businesses enhance their performance, the country's skills base is improved and the government achieves a better understanding of training provision across the country."

The ALI business inspections will operate on a non-profit, cost recovery basis with individually tailored packages to suit the organisation. The Inspectorate aim to provide organisations with a comprehensive report detailing the strengths and weaknesses of the training provision, guidance on improving the quality of training, an assessment on the value for money of the training spend, and long term access to an on-line quality improvement service.

Training and development books

Discover books on a variety of training and development topics at the Training Reference Bookshop

Source suppliers

Visit the Training Reference Directory to view supplier details for a wide range of courses, products and services.

Sponsored links

Back to top