BE WISER'S apprenticeship scheme has been praised for the "prompt and decisive action" staff have taken after inspectors dubbed the courses as "dull".

The company, which employs around 700 people in Andover and Swindon, received a complimentary report following an Ofsted inspection which took place between May 15 and 17.

In 2016 inspectors found around a third of Be Wiser Insurance's workforce were apprentices, but it received criticism from the education watchdog for a high number of those leaving early without completing their qualification.

Since its last report the firm has dramatically reduced the scale of its offering, with only 31 apprentices completing programmes at the time of the inspection.

The report said: "Leaders and managers have taken effective action to make the required improvements identified at the previous inspection and through their self-assessment. A key area for improvement was apprentices' achievement rates."

It added that Be Wiser now employs a different strategy of offering apprenticeships as managers now select employees once they have completed a period of time with the firm to ensure that a career in the industry is what they want.

In assessing the teaching inspectors said that managers plan apprenticeships well to "meeting the principles and requirements of an apprenticeship".

The report added: "Apprentices working towards standards-based apprenticeships benefit from extensive planned off-the-job training in addition to accessing a broad range of additional internal training and e-learning courses during the working week."

The report added: "Apprentices enjoy and take pride in their learning and gain new skills, knowledge and good workplace behaviours. They develop a wide range of technical skills and knowledge that prepare them well for working in insurance sales, customer service and technical roles."

HR director Jo Newman said: "We're delighted to have been rated good for everything from effectiveness of leadership and management to outcomes for learners and quality of teaching, learning and assessment."

"A lot of hard work has been completed by the training and management teams in making the recommended improvements outlined by Ofsted since our last report and this hard work has now been recognised."