Billy Camden | FE Week

Will Alison Wolf persuade the Treasury and PM to levy smaller employers?

The apprenticeship levy could be in for a shake-up, following the appointment of Baroness Alison Wolf to the policy unit at Number 10 to advise the Prime Minister on skills. In early July 2015 the Social Market Foundation published a report authored by Wolf, entitled Fixing a Broken Training System: The case for an apprenticeship […]

11% of 15-18s encouraged to take up an apprenticeship

One in ten 15 to 18-year-olds are being encouraged to take up an apprenticeship by their schoolteachers, a new YouGov survey has revealed. The research was commissioned by training provider JTL ahead of National Apprenticeship Week, which starts on Monday, February 3. It found that 73 per cent of students reported that the most likely […]

Immigration, skills and the economy after Brexit – both government and employers are missing the point

The government and business lobby groups need to get their act together when it comes to both immigration and skills, says the Confederation of British Industry’s former head of education and skills, John Cope Given the importance of improving the way in which the UK does business, it’s unedifying to see government and business trapped […]

ESFA demands final off-the-job hour data to ‘support the work of audit’

A new field is set to be introduced to individual learner records (ILR) to support government audits of apprenticeship training. The Education and Skills Funding Agency confirmed today that all FE providers will need to log “actual” off-the-job hours from August 2020. It will apply to apprentices who started new programmes from 1 August 2019. […]

Robert Halfon re-elected as education committee chair

Robert Halfon has been re-elected unopposed as the chair of the Parliamentary education committee. The Conservative MP’s re-election was confirmed in the House of Commons today by deputy speaker Eleanor Laing. Halfon, a former skills minister who served in the role from 2017 to 2019, said it was a “true honour” to have been re-elected. […]

SFA lost 1,000 staff in just six years

The Skills Funding Agency shed over 1,000 staff when responsible for apprenticeship providers and college financial oversight, before being brought into the Department for Education (DfE), new analysis by FE Week shows. But the 60 per cent reduction in staffing resource was not matched by similar cuts to the number of providers, contracts managed, nor […]

College with ‘failed’ Grenfell-style cladding starts moving students out

A college has begun moving classes and residents out of their tower block as they prepare for a multi-million pound renovation to replace Grenfell-style cladding that failed a fire safety test. Work to remove non-compliant panelling at Highbury College is planned to get underway in the spring and is anticipated to take up to 12 […]

AoC board set for shake-up to bring in outside experts

A major reorganisation of the board at the Association of Colleges (AoC) will see many of the principals replaced by experts from outside the sector. The membership body is also proposing to create a new members’ council, as well as giving a “new focus” for their president. Chief executive of the membership organisation, David Hughes, […]

Author: Billy Camden