Author: Nick Linford

Last February, when Skills Minister Anne Milton was faced with a 41 percent fall in apprenticeships starts since the levy was introduced, she bravely told me she expected to see an upturn by September. “I will be told by my officials that I shouldn’t say this, but I’m going to say it anyway,” she said. […]

A first glance there is little new in the draft Common Inspection Framework and accompanying Handbook for FE and Skills, due for implementation from September. Those hoping for the four grade structure to change or the introduction of campus level inspections for college groups will be sorely disappointed. There was also an opportunity to take […]

As the sun rises on 2019, the FE and skills sector is expecting another year of significant policy development. And in our first edition of the year, senior reporter Jude Burke takes a look at what to look out for in eight of the biggest policy areas. Here are my hot takes: 1. Apprenticeship reform […]

Two years ago FE Week exposed thousands of apprentices on standards without any approved end-point-assessment organisations. At the time, a former director of the DfE described the situation as “diabolical”. The chief executive of the ESFA, responsible for recruiting the end-point assessment organisations, was given a ticking off by the education select committee and then […]

In the past, the government paid 50 per cent of the costs towards the training of apprentices aged 19 and over. This rose to 67 per cent during the trailblazer pilot, then it rose again to 90 per cent in May 2017 once the new system was rolled out across England. Now, to stimulate more […]