This morning the Department for Business Innovation and Skills published their Skills investment statement 2011-2014: Investing in a World Class Skills System.
FE Week will be bringing you the highlights shortly.
Download a copy of the investment statement by clicking here.
This morning the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) published their response their FE reform consultation, called the Further Education and Skills System Reform Plan: Building a World Class Skills System.
The BIS statement reads: “Key reforms to Further Education will see businesses helping to develop the courses that best meet their needs for growth, increased education exports and promotion of excellence in teaching as announced today by Skills Minister John Hayes.
“Measures outlined in New Challenges, New Chances will give employers the power to support the design and delivery of new courses, helping create greater confidence in qualifications and equip learners with the skills they need.
“It will also actively support the sector, promoting excellence in teaching and developing a package of education products aimed at global opportunities in emerging economies.
“The Skills Minister also confirmed £3.8 billion investment in the sector in 2012-13 and indicative funding for the following year at a stakeholder launch event for New Challenges, New Chances.”
Download a copy of their response (click here).
More than half a dozen further education (FE) colleges will benefit from government funding for 19,000 new higher apprenticeships.
The successful bids, unveiled by Business Secretary Vince Cable in Cornwall last week, will be funded by £18.7 million of the Higher Apprenticeship Fund (HAF), worth £25 million in total.
They will be in sectors such as advanced engineering, construction and financial services.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “Investing in skills is central to our drive to boost business and productivity and make the UK more competitive.
“By radically expanding the number of degree level apprenticeships for young people, we will put practical learning on a level footing with academic study.
“This is an essential step that will help rebalance our economy and build a society in which opportunity and reward are fairly and productively distributed.”
The government will invest £17 million in nineteen partnerships between training providers and employers, as well as an additional £1.7 million being invested into two new ‘Trailblazer’ projects in industries such as science, manufacturing and engineering.
Among the successful bidders were eight FE institutions; City of Bristol College, Babington Business College, Chesterfield College, Hull College, Leeds College of Building, Newcastle College Group, North West Kent College and the Peter Jones Academy for Enterprise.
City of Bristol College will be offering 600 higher apprenticeships from level 4, equivalent to the first year of a degree course, up to level 6, equivalent to a full honours degree, in partnership with local firms such as Airbus and Bristol Media.
The Peter Jones Academy for Enterprise will create 1,020 level 5 apprenticeships, enabling learners at level 3 to enter senior business development roles at employers such as Orange, T-Mobile and Jaguar Land Rover.
Newcastle College Group (NCG) will be developing 120 high level apprenticeships in energy engineering with specialist companies such as Bell Valves and Shepherd Offshore.
Skills Minister John Hayes said: “By reviving apprenticeships the Government has started to build a world class skills system to rival our country’s great reputation for academic excellence.
“We’ve driven up quality across the board, more than doubled the number of new advanced apprenticeships, created new routes into higher levels of practical learning and given employers more control of how the training budget is spent.
“We’re now targeting resources even more closely on the skills, firms and sectors that will lead economic recovery.”
A second round of bids will be opened in early 2012 and focus on further areas needed to support economic growth.
(Read the full press release here)
What colleges are saying:
Derek Whitehead, Deputy Principal at Leeds College of Building, said: “The College is honoured to be approved as a lead partner on this exciting Higher Apprenticeship initiative. It will help support both employers and learners within the construction industry to access work based learning at a higher level and will be a viable alternative to full-time university study. Partners and employers nationally are extremely supportive of this project.”
Debra Gray, Assistant Principal for Curriculum Development and Delivery at Chesterfield College, said:“We’re absolutely delighted to be at the forefront of Higher Apprenticeships. We have a long history of Apprenticeships success, particularly in Emergency Care, and the Level 4 Higher Apprenticeship will build on this established model. The higher level qualification will match industry standards and provides learners with valuable experience via our strong links with both private and NHS ambulance services. The new qualification will leave learners ready for active work in Emergency Care and we’re pleased to offer this new practical, high level skills route into the industry.”
Dr Elaine McMahon CBE, Chief Executive and Principal of Hull College, said: “Higher Apprenticeships have much to offer. They will provide exciting new employment opportunities, progression options and higher earning potential for apprentices, while at the same time supporting employers to develop higher skills within their workforce and increase productivity and innovation that will boost the economy. The Higher Apprenticeship Fund programme will play a key role in restoring economic growth. Strong education and business partnerships will be a key feature of Higher Apprenticeships – this is exemplified in our approach and the decision to launch the first new programmes from TNT’s Headquarters.”
Robin Ghurbhurun, Deputy Principal at Newcastle College, said: “We are delighted to have been successful in our bid to develop a Higher Level Apprenticeship in Energy Engineering. This news cements our position as one of the leading providers of apprenticeships in the north east and is testament to the strong commitment that employers have for higher level skills. Through the development of this qualification we will be able to address skills shortages in the region and support the growth of the north east as a hub for the energy sector.”
Chancellor George Osborne confirmed a number of policies designed to put tackle youth unemployment during his Autumn Statement yesterday.
Mr Osborne emphasised a Youth Contract worth over £940 million that will offer young people on Jobseekers Allowance work experience, apprenticeships and jobs.
“Private sector work experience for every young person unemployed for three months,” the Chancellor said.
“After nine months, we will help pay for a job or an apprenticeship in a private business. Some 200,000 people will be helped in this way.”
The Youth Contract reinforces the government’s committment to funding wage incentives of £2,275 for 160,000 young people, as well as an additional 40,000 incentive payments to encourage small firms to take on a young apprentice.
The Autumn Statement, published as a report by the Treasury, states there will also be a new programme, funded by £50 million each year, to support the most disadvantaged 16 to 17 year-olds back into education, an apprenticeship, or a job with training.
The annual report outlines an additional £4.5 million investment over the next two years to “support work experience as part of post-16 learning”.
The Autumn Statement also confirms the £250 million vocational training programme, designed to entice businesses into investing in skills and apprenticeships.
The scheme will be piloted early next year and give eligible employers direct access to public funding, completely bypassing colleges and traditional training providers.
Other plans included the government’s intention to create an improved careers information portal in April 2012 as part of the National Careers Service.
The report says the public will be able to access “up to date, employer sourced information on occupations, progression routes, qualifications and wages.”
The statement also includes a reform of basic numeracy and literacy provision for adults. A new funding method will be implemented focusing on the skills a learner has gained, rather than just the qualification they’ve received.
Mr Osborne also revealed tax changes scheduled for 2012, including a change the way in VAT is levied on universities, colleges and charities when they share services.
There will also be an additional £1.2 billion in capital funding for the Department for Education, with £600 million earmarked for 100 new free schools. The Chancellor said he hopes to see new Maths Free Schools for 16 to 18-year-olds.
For more, see next week’s FE Week.
A college was conned out of nearly half-a-million pounds of taxpayers’ cash.
Castle College, which has sites in Maid Marian Way, Nottingham, and in Beeston, paid a training company £475,391 in the belief that people had taken training courses, the Nottingham Post reports.
The college organises courses for people who are employed but want to get extra training, using government funding. But it was billed for courses that people had not taken.
The college merged with South Nottingham College earlier this year.
One of the fraudsters was Kay Edwards, a full-time administrator at Castle College, who secretly provided Birkenhead-based Training Options UK Ltd (TOUK), which has a base in Mansfield, with details of hundreds of people who had previously undertaken courses at Castle College.
Nottingham Crown Court heard their details were used by her co-conspirators to complete false work books, assessments and feedback forms. False claims were put in for funding for those people and paid.
In one case, TOUK billed Castle College for 717 students for a customer service course when only 134 actually did the training.
A second college, North Warwickshire and Hinckley, was also conned out of £27,108 when it, along with Castle College, was invoiced by the company for 399 students on two health and safety courses that never took place.
The “guiding lights” behind the fraud were said by the prosecution to be directors Andrew Leathwood and Carolanne Ravenscroft, who ran TOUK and another company, FE Options Ltd, and general manager Kieran England. Leathwood and Ravenscroft were alleged to have profited to the tune of more than £100,000 each.
Edwards (45), of Heathery Drive, Forest Town, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud Castle College.
Leathwood (43), of Waterpark Road, Birkenhead; Ravenscroft (56), of Yowley Road, Ewloe, Deeside, Clywd; and England (37), of Vermont Road, Liverpool, were found guilty of conspiring to defraud Castle College of £475,391 and conspiring to defraud North Warwickshire and Hinckley College of £27,108.
England was also found guilty of making or supplying articles for use in frauds. This related to a number of false workbooks, knowing that they were designed or adapted for use in the course of or in connection with fraud.
Husband and wife Leslie Hayes (44) and Claire Hayes (38) of Burnt Oaks Close, Mansfield Woodhouse, who manned the Mansfield office of TOUK, admitted conspiracy to defraud Castle College and North Warwickshire and Hinckley
Damion Johnstone (39), of Mossdale Drive, Rainhill, Merseyside, who was paid to complete fraudulent claim forms, pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud Castle College only
Steven Johnson (39) of Strathmore Drive, Liverpool, admitted making or supplying articles for use in frauds.
All will be sentenced on January 3, 2012.
A spokesman for South Nottingham College said: “The case dates back to before our merger with Castle College. We believe this to be an isolated individual action and in no way representative of the college. We do not think it is appropriate to comment further at this time.”
Bicton College students created an innovative Children in Need fundraiser involving a cow last Friday.
The Sport and Outdoor Adventure students placed a cow in a pen on the lawn in front of Bicton House and then sold numbered pieces of wood to staff and students to place around the pen in the hope of marking the spot where Denis the cow would place her donation!
Outdoor Adventure tutor Ingrid Reynolds said: “Unfortunately the pressure to perform got to Denis who failed to deliver in the allotted time so we had to give a time limit and then pick the log nearest to where Denis was standing.”
Winning contestant was Equine lecturer Nicky Craven. Bicton College students raised £100 towards the Children in Need appeal.
A £1 billion package has been announced to tackle youth unemployment, as the number of 16-24 year-olds out of work, education and training reaches a record high.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Employment Minister Chris Grayling announced today the money will be spread over next three years to provide unemployed young people with extra help as part of a new Youth Contract.
It comes just a day after the Department for Education (DfE) revealed the number of 16 to 24-year-olds, who are considered NEET in the third quarter of 2011, reached 1,163,000.
However, Mr Clegg and Mr Grayling say the Youth Contract will provide nearly half-a-million new opportunities for young people, including apprenticeships and work experience placements.
Key measures include cash payments to encourage employers to recruit young people and an extra 250,000 Work Experience places over the next three years, taking the total to at least 100,000 a year.
At least 20,000 extra incentive payments worth £1,500 each for employers to take on young people as apprentices will also be made, taking the total number of payments available to 40,000 next year.
Meanwhile, extra support will be given through Jobcentre Plus in the form of weekly, rather than fortnightly, signing-on meetings, more time to talk to an adviser and a National Careers Service interview.
The measures, the government say, differ from previous schemes – such as the Future Jobs Fund – over the last decade, as they are “focused on equipping young people with the skills and opportunities to gain long-term sustainable employment in the private sector”.
Mr Clegg said: “The aim of the Youth Contract is to get every unemployed young person earning or learning again before long term damage is done.
“This is a £1bn package and what’s different about it, is it gets young people into proper, lasting jobs in the private sector.
“But it’s a contract, a two-way street: if you sign up for the job, they’ll be no signing on for the dole. You have to stick with it.”
Mr Grayling said: “We are absolutely committed to making a difference to the life chances of young people. We are expanding what works and delivering that as a priority.
“It demonstrates how government and business can work together to put young people on the path to employment and a self reliant future.”
The government also announced a new £150 million programme to provide support to some of our most vulnerable 16-17 year olds NEETs from 2012.
The total amount of money available for the new initiatives will be almost £1 billion, in addition to existing funding for employment services.
Skills Minister John Hayes said: “By reviving apprenticeships, the government is enabling thousands of young people build successful careers, and helping put businesses on a footing to grow and create new, sustainable employment.
“We’ll continue to work with employers so that more training opportunities are created, and ambition and enterprise are recognised and rewarded.”
CBI Director-General John Cridland said: “This is good news for young people up and down the country. We’re pleased the government has developed our idea to incentivise businesses to take on the young unemployed.
“It will encourage firms to take a gamble on a young inexperienced person and help tackle the scourge of youth unemployment.”
However, it is not known at this time where the money for the package will come from. It is expected to be announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer George Oborne when he makes his Autumn Statement, next week.
A students’ union president has become the youngest councillor in Cornwall.
Cornwall College Students’ Union President Joe Vinson has been elected to his local parish council.
Joe, who turned 18 in July, decided to stand for St Agnes Parish Council after nine councillors resigned and he felt faith had been lost by residents in the area.
Joe said: “I decided enough was enough and that my village of St Agnes deserved passionate and dedicated people to represent it.
“I decided to stand in the hope that I could represent the younger generation in the village and to rebuild the trust between residents and the council.
“My election is a prime example of why no one can accuse young people of being disinterested in the community that surrounds them.”
Joe already has a wealth of experience on the political stage which includes a stint as a Youth Parliament MP, Students’ Union secretary and now president, and elections to the NUS’ zone committee and financial support commission.
There was a festival of colour as a college opened its new floristry shop.
Doncaster College opened the shop last week with Gill Parkes, head of the academy of commercial enterprise, leading the celebrations.
Floristry students got the chance to showcase their skills by demonstrating a number of floristry practices, such as Christmas wreath making, buttonhole making and bottle wrapping with guests able to have a go.
Catering students, meanwhile, were on hand from the hospitality and catering department at the college, served champagne and canapés throughout the event, and guests had the opportunity to buy items from the shop.
Guests were also entered into a raffle, with the lucky winners announced by Kerry Marr, the college’s assistant director for land based studies, at the end.
