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‘apprenticeships’

National Apprenticeship Week is unlike any other week

This week, the skills and apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon travelled the country, meeting apprentices and employers all over the UK. Here, he argues that apprenticeships are going from strength to strength Why are we celebrating the tenth National Apprenticeship Week? Because we want to showcase the brilliant work employers and their apprentices have been doing. […]

Opinion

SFA blasted over ‘mystery shopper’ scheme

FE Week readers are up in arms about the Skills Funding Agency’s new mystery shopper scheme to test apprenticeships, because many of them don’t even know when or if they’ll be able to start delivering their own. The SFA announced its new initiative in its online update on March 8, and said it would use […]

News

Unison: First4Skills collapse ‘could have broken the law’

The UK’s strict redundancy laws may have been breached when one of the largest apprenticeship providers in England unexpectedly called in the administrators last week, according to a major union. First4Skills, which received £15 million every year to run apprenticeships, told around 200 ‘shocked’ staff on Friday, March 3 that it was closing down. Now […]

News

Breaking: SFA unveils ‘mystery shopper’ scheme to test how ready providers are for apprenticeship reforms

The Skills Funding Agency has launched a new “mystery shopper” scheme to find out how prepared providers are for the new apprenticeship reforms. The announcement was made in the online SFA Update just uploaded onto gov.uk. It said: “To help us understand how prepared providers are for the new apprenticeship reforms, we are carrying out […]

News

Enter more female apprentices for skills competitions – it’s worth it!

Women have a raw deal when it comes to apprenticeships, but here are some steps we can all take to improve the situation, says Neil Bentley I was struck by a recent report from the Young Women’s Trust highlighting just how grave the situation is for women looking to take up an apprenticeship. The report […]

Opinion

Is it ethical to apply the apprenticeship levy to charities?

The levy will force charities to create new apprenticeships or lose the money to private business, which raises ethical issues, says Steve Woolcock This year’s national apprenticeship week will be the last before the apprenticeship levy kicks in on 1 April. As the day draws nearer, many large organisations have been preparing to deal with […]

Opinion

Budget 2017: Sector hails Hammond’s ‘breakthrough budget’ for skills

Today’s spring budget has been hailed as a “breakthrough budget for skills” as chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed major extra investment for technical education. The measures for FE and skills announced today – but revealed by FE Week on Sunday – include an additional £500 million a year for 16- to 19-year-old technical students and the […]

News

Levy confusion: Final SFA apprenticeship allocation meeting cancelled

A key meeting that the Skills Funding Agency was supposed to hold today, to reach final decisions on which providers will be allocated a non-levy employer funding allocation, has been cancelled. FE Week has also learned that no date has been set, for when this will be rescheduled. The Skills Funding Agency was due to […]

News

BREAKING: FE champion Shakira Martin standing for NUS president

The top job at the National Union of Students is in the sights of Shakira Martin, currently vice president for FE, who has confirmed she is running for president in the April 2017 elections. Ms Martin made the announcement at noon today (March 7) on her Facebook and Twitter accounts with a short video (see […]

News