York College
‘apprenticeships’
Star names unveiled for this year’s Association of Colleges annual conference and exhibition include broadcaster Steph McGovern, comedian Ruby Wax (pictured), and apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon. The annual event will take place from November 15 to 17 at the ICC Birmingham. FE Week readers will be familiar with conference chair Steph McGovern — […]
News
Liz Rees knows all about grammar schools — she attended three — but, unlike some prominent politicians, the experience has not made the Unionlearn director a fan of government plans to expand them. “I just don’t get it,” she says. “They belong to the past, when about five per cent of kids went to university […]
Profiles
With the sector reeling from proposed rate – cuts to 16-18 apprenticeships, the government needs to heed the findings of the consultation, says Mark Dawe. All the signals under Theresa May’s new administration are that the government is sticking with its three million manifesto target for apprenticeships and, that it is determined the levy will […]
Opinion
A top SFA official seconded to into the government department to implement the apprenticeship levy has already returned, FE Week can reveal. FE Week reported in March that Keith Smith (pictured) was temporarily leaving his role at the SFA to join BIS as their Director of Levy Implementation until April 2017. A government spokesperson said […]
Writing his first opinion piece as the new apprenticeships and skills minister, Robert Halfon sets out his case for “boosting social justice, economic productivity, and our country’s skills base”. My passion for apprenticeships and skills started before I was even elected, when I went to visit a charity in my constituency who were helping young […]
Businesses are increasingly jittery over the apprenticeship levy, after it was revealed that they would have to sign strict contracts with the Skills Funding Agency – rather than just with providers, as the sector had expected. The CBI says it is “concerned” that the existence of these contracts had only “come to light” at this […]
The prime minister has said she “does not recognise” potential cuts of between 30 to 50 per cent to apprenticeship funding. The devastating cuts, exclusively revealed by FE Week in August, were raised during prime minister’s question time in the House of Commons today by Richard Burden, Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield. He asked Ms […]
Education Secretary Justine Greening was quizzed about potentially devastating apprenticeship funding cuts during an evidence session for the Education Select Committee this morning. The proposed cuts of up to 50 per cent for 16- to 18-year-olds in the most deprived areas of the country, revealed exclusively by FE Week, are part of planned reforms to […]
FE Week’s first ever campaign garnered serious attention in Parliament yesterday, with the Prime Minister, education secretary and minister for apprenticeships all fielding questions on the proposed funding cuts to 16-18 apprenticeships. New apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon was invited to address campaigners at the launch of FE Week’s #SaveOurApprenticeships campaign, with speeches also made by shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden […]
