Doug Richard to head up apprenticeships review

Good old Doug Richard. He always seem to be busy helping business. The entrepreneur, former Dragons’ Den investor and founder of School for Startups has just been appointed to lead an independent review into apprenticeships in England.

The Richard Review of Apprenticeships has been commissioned by BIS and the Department for Education, and will look at: who apprenticeships should be for; what their core components should be; and how to get the right system of assessment and delivery in place to make them really effective.

The review is aptly timed. The CBI has just released research that finds six in 10 businesses think young people are not ready for the world of work when they leave education. And roughly one in three of more than 500 companies surveyed said they were unhappy with college and school leavers’ literacy and numeracy levels. The business organisation has called on the coalition to find a “radical new vision” to support young people.

Let’s hope Doug Richard can help with that.