The quality of government-funded work-based training in England varies from the outstanding to the very poor, according to David Sherlock, the Chief Inspector of the Training Standards Council, in his first report, published today. In the report, however, the Chief Inspector comments that there are already signs of rising standards in work-based training. Some unsatisfactory training organisations are showing rapid improvement. Others have lost government funding and closed.

The report covers the first 300 inspections carried out by the Training Standards Council during which inspectors judged the quality of training on offer to about 81,000 trainees. Inspectors looked at the quality of training in each occupation and at four general aspects: support for trainees; equal opportunities; management of training; quality assurance. This is the first time that work-based training in England has been subject to independent national inspection.

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