Windsor Learning Partnership
‘Jobs’
A new cross-party commission to examine how apprenticeships can help to bridge the skills gap has been launched by the thinktank Demos. The Commission on Apprenticeships will be co-chaired by the Conservative MP Robert Halfon and Labour’s Lord Glasman, and is due to meet for the first time in the next month. The group will […]
News
With the Tories and Labour coming up with strategies to help young people off JobSeekers’ Allowance and into a job or back to the classroom, Mark Corney assesses the importance and implications of such policies. The Conservatives and Labour are squabbling over who came up with an 18 to 21 ‘earn or learn’ strategy first. […]
Opinion
A veteran of the skills sector, Dr Sue Pember has worked under eight Secretaries of State, from David Blunkett to Dr Vince Cable. But despite having left her government job for a life of freelance consultancy work earlier this year, the 59-year-old mother-of-one still won’t say who was her favourite boss. “I definitely have favourites, […]
Profiles
Skills Minister Matthew Hancock pledged £15m of government support for Unionlearn next academic year having been labelled an “enemy” before he addressed the trade union body’s annual conference. A delegate asked why an MP from “the enemy” had been invited instead of a Labour politician, before Mr Hancock outlined the government’s ongoing support for Unionlearn […]
The post of full-time chief executive at the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) is on offer with a salary of up to £142,000 a-year — and “no FE and skills experience necessary”. The role, currently held on an interim basis by Barbara Spicer (pictured right), also comes with a possible bonus of up to £17,500 after three […]
A report out today from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills has called for more ‘earning and learning’ with the UK having experienced a fall in the number of young people combining work with learning. Precarious Futures? Youth employment in an international context noted no other European state saw the same fall in the […]
Labour has been accused by Skills Minister Matthew Hancock of copying Conservative Party policy with proposals to drop JobSeekers Allowance (JSA) for 18 to 21-year-olds. Labour leader Ed Miliband’s proposals to instead bring in a parental means-tested youth allowance dependant upon enrolment in training up to level three, were compared to an announcement in October […]
The government has launched a long-awaited consultation on moving to a new traineeship funding system in which providers are paid based on learner destination. Progression into apprenticeships, jobs or further learning could be incentivised from 2015/16 under the proposals. Skills Minister Matthew Hancock said: “This consultation will test whether a funding approach designed specifically for […]
Young people from ethnic minority backgrounds graduated from a media training course which honours the memory of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence. The 11 learners, who are aged 19 to 24 years old, spent six weeks studying for a BTec level two certificate in creative media production at Westminster Kingsway College and another six weeks working […]
Bulletin
