Author: Billy Camden

Employers should not be handed the keys to the National Retraining Scheme if the government is serious about supporting the millions of older people who need it most, according to a former senior skills civil servant. Instead, the new initiative should focus on the skills needs of people rather than those of employers, insists Dr […]

Nine training providers nearly missed out on almost £8 million of non-levy funding because officials mismarked their bids in the recent tender. FE Week understands that the money was almost held back because the ESFA had drafted in inexperienced assessors to mark the complex submissions. A Freedom of Information request showed that of all the […]

Barnfield College has suspended its recruitment of new apprentices, after it received an ‘inadequate’ rating for this provision from Ofsted this week. The college’s inspection report was published on March 7 and rated it ‘requires improvement’ overall, but the lowest possible mark was given for apprenticeships. Providers who get a grade four in this provision […]

Thirteen organisations, including a Welsh college and the furniture retail giant DFS, have been unexpectedly added to the register of apprenticeship training providers. The third and most recent window of opportunity to get on to RoATP closed at the end of October, with results published in January, and it has not officially reopened since. These […]

A consortium lead by Milton Keynes College has bid for £18 million-worth of funding to launch an Institute of Technology at England’s famous wartime codebreaking centre, Bletchley Park. The group, which includes as partners Microsoft, City & Guilds and the Bletchley Park Trust, has unveiled details of the proposed Institute of Digital Technology. As many […]

The regional winners of the inaugural Annual Apprenticeship Awards have been announced at a special ceremony in the House of Commons today. The categories included ‘apprentice employer’, ‘apprenticeship provider’ and ‘promoting apprenticeships campaign’, and winners will now head to the national finals on March 22. The event was sponsored by the chair of the education […]

A high-level advisory group made up of top government officials and industry and union leaders has met for the first time today to begin their work in developing a “historic” national retraining scheme. The first meeting of the National Retraining Partnership was hosted by the chancellor Philip Hammond (pictured above) and joined by such luminaries […]

HMRC has launched a major investigation into subcontracting that could result in tens of millions in fees and fines after it discovered many colleges and training providers are ignoring VAT rules on management fees. FE Week understands that the tax office has put together a team of around 20 special investigators, who will find out […]