The government knew apprenticeship starts would drop dramatically after the levy was introduced in May, the education secretary has claimed.

Justine Greening was quizzed on the 61 per cent fall in starts since May compared to the same period of time last year, which was revealed in official government statistics earlier this month, during a hearing of the House of Commons education select committee this morning.

“This is what we were expecting in the fact that we knew that when employers finally took over responsibility for actually spending the money themselves, they may well take some time to look at how they wanted to invest that money in apprenticeships,” she said.

But she conceded that the Department for Education was “tracking that very closely” – and that “we broadly remain on track in relation to 3 million apprenticeships”.

Ms Greening was responding to a question from Trudy Harrison, Conservative MP for Copeland and newly-appointed ambassador for apprenticeships.

She asked: “We’ve had a 61 per cent decrease in apprenticeships take-up since the levy was introduced. Why is that?”

Other questions put to the education secretary included a grilling from James Frith, MP for Bury, over funding for post-16 education, which he said went against Ms Greening’s commitment to social mobility.

Current funding rates per student at post-16 level are significantly lower than for 11- to 16-year-olds – around 21 per cent lower, according to the Sixth Form Colleges Association. 

“You talk about social mobility, equality of opportunity – these principles are not applied to your funding rationale when in the middle, at a very important time in a young person’s life you turn your back essentially to the tune of £1,000 per pupil,” he argued.

But Ms Greening insisted “I don’t agree with that”.

“I agree there does need to be more investment going in – that’s what we announced [in the spring budget] – but alongside that the other key thing that is going to make a big difference is broader reform in relation to technical education, T-levels, the need for employers to step up to the plate and give us work placements,” she said.

Committee chair Robert Halfon quizzed his former boss about her plans to review the £60 million fund, announced last October, to support apprentices in disadvantaged areas.

At a fringe event at the Conservative party conference in early October Mr Halfon outlined how he would like to see the money spent – which included giving a proportion to “incredible grassroots community groups” to support young people to be ready to start an apprenticeship.

Ms Greening confirmed this morning that the review of the fund was “underway”.

“I’m happy to update you once it’s completed,” she said.

On the subject of the Conservative party’s general election promise to introduce “significantly discounted bus and train travel for apprentices”, Ms Greening said only that she was “looking at taking forward the manifesto commitment”.

Earlier in the session Ms Greening took the opportunity to reaffirm her commitment to social mobility, equality of opportunity and to reforming technical education.

“Britain has never had equality of opportunity – that needs to change,” she said.

“None of us should accept that someone’s future is determined by where they start in life – that must be changed.”

She insisted that “young people in our country have never had a good enough choice of options post-16” and “technical education has never been at the level our young people deserve”.

“Our young people deserve a much higher quality technical education,” she said.

Councils are not doing enough to ensure special needs learners get the help they need, a report from the local government ombudsman has found.

The new Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) were introduced in 2014 as a way of providing more holistic and efficient SEND support for learners up to the age of 25.

However, the first 100 investigations carried out by the ombudsman show that, far from making the system easier for learners and their families to negotiate, it has left some facing a “disproportionate burden” to get the help they are entitled to.

The ombudsman warned some students are missing out on places in colleges and schools and “ultimately failing to reach their potential” due to the long delays involved in the process, which is not supposed to take longer than 20 weeks.

The report highlights poor planning from councils resulting in extra meetings being hastily arranged, a lack of communication with learners, and failures to share information.

The EHCP code of practice stresses that learners and their families should be involved in decision making throughout the process, and offered a face-to-face meeting.

However, the report shows councils struggling to arrange meetings in a proper or timely manner, causing delays to the entire process.

EHCPs hit the headlines in September when City College Norwich allowed autistic learner James Parker to begin his studies, and then five days later asked his mother Emma not to let him return, saying the 16-year-old had been “enrolled in error”.

A consultation held by Norfolk County Council had decided the college could not support James’ needs, but the family had not been informed or helped to find an alternative.

As James’ application was made directly to the college it bypassed the council’s EHCP process, and the college did not find out about the result of the consultation until it had already made James an offer. 

The report warns: “The frustration, stress and sense of injustice for the families involved is understandable. When councils then fail to recognise and acknowledge fault, further damage is caused to relationships and trust.”

It also highlighted concerns that officers do not always have the necessary financial information to make informed judgements on preferred placements and that the use of panels to make decisions can leave learners feeling excluded from the decision making process. Delays on councils seeking professional advice was also raised, with some seemingly unaware that they bear the responsibility for gathering evidence for the EHCP and even trying to delegate the role to family members. 

 The ombudsman added a “lack of strategic planning” was not leaving learners enough time to appeal decisions, and that some councils were issuing inadequate or incomplete final plans simply to try and meet government deadlines, leading to preventable appeals and causing “unnecessary distress and confusion”.

Complaints about the system have doubled in the last two years, from 109 in 2015/16 to 217 2016/17, with the number expected to rise further. Investigators have upheld nearly 80 per cent of complaints received compared to the ombudsman’s average of 53 per cent.

Local government and social care ombudsman Michael King said: “When councils get things wrong, it places a disproportionate burden on families already struggling with caring and support.

“Some families have to go well beyond the call of duty to confirm the type of support their children should receive. 

“The system is not failing universally. But for those people who come to use, we are finding significant problems – sometimes suffering long delays in getting the right support and children ultimately failing to reach their potential.”