The recently formed Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has been heavily criticised by a select committee of MPs who say that “it has not yet found its feet” and that it may be sometime before it makes a considerable impact on the British education system.

After scrutinising the department’s annual report MPs felt that the language contained within it was “impenetrable” and full of needless jargon, concluding that the department was using this to cover up a lack of policy and any clear vision for the future.

Examples of such language within the report include, “An overarching national improvement strategy will drive up quality and performance underpinned by specific plans for strategically significant areas of activity, such as workforce and technology.”

The committee also raised questions about the quality of the statistics used by the department, advising that they should instead be reviewed independently. Overall, committee chairman Phil Willis MP stated that the report was “very unhelpful.”

The department was created in June 2007 to take over certain responsibilities from the disbanded Skills and Trade Industry Department. Its stated responsibilities are adult learning, higher education, skills, science and innovation.

The department aims to make Britain a world leader for science, research and innovation, and has been described by Gordon Brown as at the forefront of plans to combat the current economic downturn.

In response to the committee findings, Ian Whatmore, permanent secretary for the department, accepted that some language was “inaccessible” and promised to review its writing procedures for next years report after even he was unable explain to MPs what some sentences meant.

The department’s response to the criticism was muted, with a spokesperson pointing out that it has, “massively expanded apprenticeships, reached our target of 2.25 million people achieving basic skills two years early, increased the number of students entering higher education and continued the record investment in funding for science and research."

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