A rename for the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) following its merger with the Centre for Social Inclusion (Inclusion) has been approved by members.

Niace held its annual general meeting this afternoon at City Lit, in London, with the new Learning and Work Institute name the key item on the agenda.

Members voted to approve plans, exclusively revealed by Niace chief executive David Hughes to FE Week on October 21, to rename.

Mr Hughes (pictured right) said: “We had a big majority in favour of the new name, with only two members and one organisation [whom he declined to identify] voting against it.”

He added that there was debate among members over why the word ‘adult’ had been dropped from the new name.

“There were some people saying ‘if we drop the word, let’s make sure that we don’t lose our commitment to learning for older people’ and we were able to assure them that we are still committed to lifelong learning,” said Mr Hughes.

“It’s important to us to ensure that our society allows for good quality learning and development right through from apprenticeships for younger people to old age.”

The Niace board is set to give final legal approval for the merger on December 10, before it comes into effect on January 1.

Mr Hughes said: “Waiting until the new year will give us a little bit of time to tie up all the loose ends and come up with things like the new logo.

“The plan is for the new website to go live on January 2.”

It was confirmed in July, as reported in FE Week, that Niace, based in Leicester which employed 65 people at the time, and Inclusion, based in London which employed 20 people, would be progressing from their previous “strategic alliance” to a full merger.

Mr Hughes told FE Week after the AGM that “there is no plan for job losses”, or to close offices in Leicester, Cardiff, and London following the merger.

However, he added that “the determining factor” for future decision over jobs would be the results of the government spending review due to report later this month.

“We get a lot of commissioned work from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Work and Pensions, and other government agencies, so will have to see if cutbacks lead to a big loss of income for us,” he said.

Maggie Galliers (pictured above left), chair of Niace’s company board, said: “Throughout the summer, we listened carefully to our stakeholders, members, partners, funders and staff and the changes today reflect the hundreds of conversations we’ve had.

“Our members are committed to ensuring the new Learning and Work Institute will follow in the traditions of its parent organisations and as a wider-reaching, stronger entity find even more ways to make learning and work count and improve the lives of millions.”

Dave Simmonds (pictured right), Inclusion chief executive, said: “We welcome the decision of the Niace membership to back the merger and the new name of Learning and Work Institute.

“We’re looking forward to 2016 and forging a new organisation firmly based on improving life opportunities for all.”

Members at the AGM also approved a new impact report of the work in 2014/15 of Niace.

It reported, for example, on how Niace had helped the government improve referral rates on to traineeships by Jobcentre Plus staff and trained 16 to 24-year-olds as researchers for a project geared at finding out what employers want from training.

Visit www.niace.org.uk/sites/default/files/resources/4.%20NIACE_Impact%20Report%202014-15.pdf to download a copy.

Limited demand for level three apprenticeship skills among UK businesses could lead to “resistance” to the proposed large employers’ levy, according to joint House of Commons select committee research out today.

Business, Innovation and Skills committee chair Iain Wright (pictured above left) and his Education committee counterpart Neil Carmichael (pictured above right) commissioned the research, which claims that “considerable challenges lie ahead to design such a levy”.

A 38-page report, featuring research from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), compares education and training in the UK, United States, France and Germany.

It looked at the issue of the proposed large employers’ apprenticeship levy, among others, for which a government consultation closed on October 2, and concluded that “employer commitment to apprentice training in the UK continues to be limited by comparison with Germany and some other Continental European nations”.

It adds: “In large part this reflects the business strategies deployed by many British firms which do not seek to specialise in high skill, high value added product areas or to organise their workplaces in skill-intensive ways.

“In this context there is only limited demand for level three apprentice skills among British employers and the government may encounter resistance from some employers to its recent proposal to introduce a levy on large firms to help fund apprentice training.

“Considerable challenges lie ahead to design such a levy in ways that will both achieve its objectives — to expand high-quality apprentice training — and secure buy-in from a significant proportion of employers.”

Most recent government figures, released in this month’s Statistical First Release, show that of the 492,700 apprenticeships provisionally recorded for 2014/15, 36.3 per cent (179,000) were at level three. The provisional figure for the year before was 141,100, or 32.6 per cent of 432,400 apprenticeships were at level three.

And the report says that below level three, the “UK’s apprenticeship system has expanded to reach a high number of trainees and looks on the surface to be very promising in terms of skill development”.

“However, a large proportion of employers of apprentices do not appear to offer high-quality training,” it says.

“Many trainees are aiming only for NVQ level two qualifications rather than the level three or higher qualifications which are typically associated with apprenticeship training in Continental Europe.

“Furthermore, some training under the ‘apprenticeship’ heading for older workers in their existing jobs seems to amount to little more than short-duration skills updating or accreditation of existing skills.”

The report covers a number of other areas relating to education and skills systems, such as technical and vocational qualifications, and the skills shortage in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) subjects.

Mr Wright said: “Education and skills policy has an important role to play in boosting productivity and living standards. It is vital that there is closer alignment between the requirements of business and the skills and capabilities our education system provides to young people. Far too often there is little if any co-ordination.

“This is made worse by the silo-based approach in Government, which doesn’t have the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills talking to the Department for Education. We on the Select Committees want to show Government how working across policy areas and across parties is possible.

“Working jointly on skills and productivity gives the committees a real opportunity to ensure young people have the skills they need to achieve fulfilling careers and boost the country’s productivity.”

Mr Carmichael said: “Businesses need to ramp up their efforts to engage with schools while our education system needs to get better at equipping pupils with the right skills to enter the workplace and drive these businesses forward.”

Further details of the future programme of the Education and BIS Committees’ joint work on education, skills and productivity is expected to be published later this month.

Follow @FEWeek today from 9am for coverage of a joint committee seminar, featuring NIESR officials as well as high-profile sector figures such as Professor Lady Alison Wolf, covering the contribution the education and skills systems (up to age 19) make to productivity.

Consultation has opened on the first batch of Trailblazer assessment plans to be subject to public scrutiny.

Anyone with an interest has until November 13 to comment on the 16 new draft assessment plans, which include gas engineering and aviation ground specialist, via the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) online consultation hub.

The move follows the government’s decision, exclusively revealed by FE Week last month, to put all new trailblazer assessment plans out for a two-week public consultation.

In a letter emailed to all Trailblazer groups on October 5, Jennifer Coupland (pictured below right), deputy director of the joint BIS and Department for Education (DfE) apprenticeship strategy and policy unit, said the public consultation was intended to “improve transparency, scrutiny and the evidence base supporting our assessment plan approval process”.

Trailblazer groups would be given a chance to respond to the consultation feedback, according to a guidance note accompanying Ms Coupland’s letter, before a final decision is made on the plan.

The guidance note also stated that BIS and the Skills Funding Agency will, in addition to promoting each consultation through their own publications and social media, “seek regular feedback from cross-cutting employer, provider and assessment organisations”.

Trailblazer groups are also encouraged to promote the consultation “through your own channels if you think this would be helpful”.

The assessment plans currently open for consultation are:

• Professional Accounting / Taxation Technician
• Bespoke Tailoring
• Highway Electrical Maintenance and Installation Operative
• Highways Electrician / Service Operative
• Highways Maintenance Skilled Operative
• Digital Marketer
• Infrastructure Technician
• Aviation ground operative
• Aviation ground specialist
• Gas engineering
• HM Forces Serviceperson
• Outside Broadcasting Engineer
• Public Sector Commercial
• Composites Technician
• Embedded Electronic Systems Design and Development Engineer
• Junior Management Consultant

The consultation runs until November 13 via the BIS online consultation hub.

Prestigious awards and special commendations have been handed out to dozens of learners and employers at National Apprenticeship Awards (NAAs) regional finals for the East Midlands and East of England.

The last two of 11 NAA regional finals held over the last month took place at Sketchley Grange Hotel, Leicestershire, Thursday, October 29, and Rowley Mile Racecourse, Newmarket, on Tuesday, October 27, (winners pictured above) respectively.

Awards and special commendations were announced for 19 employers and 16 apprentices, aged between 18 and 61, across the two events.

More than 90 winners from all 11 regions will now be considered for the national finals — with three from each category set to be shortlisted ahead of a presentation ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, on January 26.

Sue Husband, director of the National Apprenticeship Service, said that she wanted to pass on “huge congratulations to all the winners and highly commended at this year’s regional apprenticeship awards”.

“All the ceremonies have been a huge success and have highlighted how apprenticeships are helping businesses and individuals succeed and grow,” she added. “Bring on the final, and I wish them all [the regional award winners] luck.”

Regional finals took place for the South East on October 21, and Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Staffordshire, and South West, covering Thames Valley and Solent the following day.

They came after ceremonies for the North West, covering Liverpool, Cumbria and Lancashire, South West, covering Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Bournemouth, Poole and South Gloucestershire, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands, London, and the North East were held between October 8 and 15, as covered by FE Week.

A Skills Funding Agency spokesperson said that the regional finals for the NAAs, which are now in their 12th year, had presented an important opportunity to “highlight the many success stories and the benefits of apprenticeships”.

[slideshow_deploy id=’40936′]

Here are the latest winners and highly commended apprentices and employers:

East of England

Winners:

McDonald’s Award for Intermediate Apprentice of the Year: Ashleigh Everett, age 20, level two hairdressing, Boldero and Filby

EAL Award for Advanced Apprentice of the Year: Daniel Swain, age 23, level three mechanical engineering, Delphi Diesel Systems

The Nuclear Decommissioning Site Licence Companies Award for the Higher Apprentice of the Year: Callum Rowe, age 23, level four business administration, MBDA Ltd

City & Guilds Award for Apprenticeship Champion of the Year: Neil Cain, age 51, level five horticulture, John O’Conner (Grounds Maintenance) Ltd

Unilever Award for Small Employer of the Year: Suffolk Canine Creche Limited

The E.ON in partnership with the National Skills Academy for Power Award for Medium Employer of the Year: Bango.net Ltd

BAE Systems Award for Large Employer of the Year: MBDA

BT Award for Macro Employer of the Year: Greene King

EDF Energy Award for Newcomer SME of the Year: Oaks Hospital

Highly Commended:

Liam Bartle, age 20, level two customer service, Clarity Travel Management

John Coombes, age 21, level three engineering, Ford Motor Company

Chloe Lakey, age 21, level three delivery management British Telecom

Holly De Boise, age 30, level five business administration, Hertfordshire County Council

Dave White, age 35, level three telecommunication engineering, BT

Ginger Nut Media

IT Fleet Automotive

B3 Living Limited

E2v Technologies UK Ltd

Computacenter

Hertfordshire County Council

Forensic Healthcare Services Limited

Freedom Communications (UK)

 

East Midlands

Winners:

AL Award for Advanced Apprentice of the Year: Oliver Chapman, age 21, level three IT, software, web & telecoms professionals, British Telecom

The Nuclear Decommissioning Site Licence Companies Award for the Higher Apprentice of the Year: Alexander Hunt, age 19, level four life sciences and chemical science professionals, Unilever

City & Guilds Award for Apprenticeship Champion of the Year: Michael Motley, age 61, level three metallurgical technician, British Steel

Unilever Award for Small Employer of the Year: Aidan J Reed

BAE Systems Award for Large Employer of the Year: Liebherr GB

BT Award for Macro Employer of the Year: National Grid

Highly Commended:

Alex Newton, age 18, level three IT, software, web & telecoms professionals, Boots the Chemist

Liam Roberts, age 21, level three construction building, Barratt Development

Alice Winter, age 20, level four, supply chain management, Boots the Chemist

Lee Mason, age 41, level three construction and plant maintenance engineer, Liebherr

Emh group

Travis Perkins

Kwik-Fit (GB)

 

 

Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden has called on the government to “get a grip” after new figures showed that providers missed out on almost £250m in FE loans cash last academic year.

Figures released by the government showed that the total amount awarded for 24+ advanced learning loans in 2014/15 was £149m, which was 62 per cent less than the £397m allocated for the FE loans budget.

Mr Marsden, who was critical of the government’s decision not to create a national marketing budget for FE loans when they were introduced, said the figures showed the “sluggish uptake” on FE loans.

“Ministers need to get a grip urgently before funding, that is crucial for skills and training to give older adults improved life chances and as a key mechanism for improving our productivity, is snaffled up permanently by the Treasury,” he added.

David Hughes, chief executive at National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, said: “Not only has the number of learners making use of the loans decreased, it is also severely under-utilised. Imagine what that £250m of lost learning could have delivered for people if the loans system was functional?”

He called on the government to improve uptake by making loans “available for smaller qualifications, modules, units and professional qualifications”.

The system currently applies to learners aged at least 24 and studying at level three or four — but a government consultation last summer proposed that they should apply to level two and 19 to 23-year-olds.

No changes have been implemented yet, but Skills Minister Nick Boles said in the consultation response that the government would “look again at these proposals” through the spending review.

Independent education consultant Mike Farmer said the £250m of lost funding showed “these loans haven’t been as successful as the government hoped”.

“It’s a shame that more money available wasn’t taken up — it’s one of the few areas of public spending where there is spare cash lying about,” he added.

The latest figures showed that while the number of applications received for FE loans fell from 70,820 in 2013/14 to 67,280 last academic year, applications approved for payment rose from 56,220 to 56,870 over the same period.

But figures also showed that 72 per cent (48,670) of applications were by females and 15 per cent (10,210) by non-UK learners.

Meanwhile, 94 per cent (61,930) were for level three applications — with just 6 per cent (4,320) for level four.

Jonathan Simons, head of education at Policy Exchange which called in June for higher education funding to be diverted to FE, said the figures “illustrate the vicious circle that FE has got itself into”.

“Because loans are little understood, and demand from students is therefore low, colleges have little incentive to put on such higher level courses,” he added.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovations and Skills said: “The total funding allocation for 24+ advanced learning loans does not represent a target, but is demand–led and designed to ensure that any eligible learner seeking to support their studies will be able to do so.

“The take-up of advanced learning loans continues to increase year-on-year.”

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Editor’s comment

Overdue loan action

Back in April last year, Leicester College principal Verity Hancock wrote a very interesting and telling expert piece for FE Week.

The article was headlined “The ‘tantalising’ potential of FE loans”.

And in it, she concluded: “Our experience is that a different approach is going to be critical in enabling us to maximise the potential that loans offer.”

Her comment could not be more apposite nearly 19 months later as we learn that £250m of FE loans funding went unused in these straitened financial times.

While this is a potential funding stream that is being ignored, equally, as David Hughes points out, it’s learning that’s not taking place. It’s skills that are not being developed in the time of a skills gap.

Perhaps now, nearly three years after Gordon Marsden criticised the lack of marketing for FE loans, it’s time for ministers to consider a PR campaign at the very least to increase awareness and the attractiveness of FE loans — before the system is expanded further, only for greater potential to be lost.

Chris Henwood

chris.henwood@feweek.co.uk

A petition signed by more than 10,000 people that called on the government to “stop further funding cuts to adult education” has been delivered to 10 Downing Street.

Shadow Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy Chi Onwurah was joined yesterday (October 29) by five members of the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) when presenting the petition at the home of Prime Minister David Cameron.

It was part of the Save Adult Education campaign launched by the WEA on September 28.

Mr Onwurah said that she was backing the campaign because “adult education is important — it helps individuals and their families break cycles of deprivation and forge better lives themselves”.

“For many people living in low-income communities, adult education is a lifeline which helps them get the skills they need to get on in life,” he added.

Chief executive of WEA Ruth Spellman, who was among the group that handed over the petition, said it was important to pile pressure on the government to limit FE spending cuts, ahead of next month’s spending review announcement, because “everyone deserves a second chance back into learning”.

“It is essential for our economy and society that we continue to provide high quality education for adults,” she added.

It comes after hundreds of staff and students from FE colleges descended on Parliament in June as part of another campaign against funding cuts to adult education.

The lobby event, organised by the University and College Union (UCU), gave FE staff the chance to explain directly to their MPs the impact the reduction in the adult skills budget (ASB) was having on their classrooms.

It has been estimated, as reported in FE Week, that the ASB has been reduced by 35 per cent since 2009, and funding for adults over the age of 19 on non-apprenticeship courses is set to be slashed by up to a further 24 per cent in 2015/16, as was announced in March.

 

Pic from left: James Drummond, WEA organiser, Chi Onwurah, Ruth Spellman, Mona Nashed, WEA tutor, Joanna Cain, WEA deputy CEO, and former level two helping in schools leaner, Lisa Birch, aged 45