Windsor Learning Partnership
‘apprenticeships’
Providers have been left waiting, as the Skills Funding Agency admits to having “fully committed” the budget for the Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE) facility for 2015-2016. AGE 16 to 24 supports businesses that would not otherwise be able to recruit 16 to 24 year olds into employment through the apprenticeship programme. The facility works […]
News
The number of notices of concern issued to FE providers by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has more than doubled in the last year, FE Week can reveal. A total of 75 notices have been issued since 2010, with 53 per cent of these being given out in 2015 alone. Only 24 per cent were […]
One of the largest providers of apprenticeships has asked the Skills Funding Agency for permission to give cashback to employers, prompting the agency to say it would have “grave concerns” about any such arrangement. In an email about Trailblazer funding, dated 22 December and released to FE Week following an FoI request, JTL Training asked […]
Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary, has made the controversial decision to only part-fund providers’ 16 to 18 apprenticeship growth requests, FE Week understands. The revelation comes less than two weeks after many providers were left short-changed after the Skills Funding Agency announced on February 5 that £25m additional funding would be available for 16 to […]
The Government has come in for criticism after rejecting attempts to ensure representatives from FE providers and trade unions sit alongside employers on the new apprenticeships policing body. Labour tried unsuccessfully on 11 February to get a clause inserted into the enterprise bill, which would have ensured the Institute for Apprenticeships, which will monitor standards […]
The Prime Minister has spoken this month about plans to give governors more freedom over prisoner education budgets, as part of a keynote speech on wider prison reform. Alexandra Marks looks at how this could affect the FE sector. It’s great to see the Government supporting prison education from the very top, as it has […]
Opinion
Alice Barnard has started in her position as the new chief executive of the Edge Foundation. She takes over from David Harbourne, Edge’s director of policy and research, who has been acting chief executive since Jan Hodges’ retirement last April. Ms Barnard moves from her position as leader of the Peter Jones Foundation, which she […]
Movers and Shakers
The Shadow Skills Minister has been left frustrated with a “misleading” answer to a parliamentary question he lodged over what happened to Libor fine cash for apprenticeships promised by the Prime Minister. David Cameron announced last April that if he won the general election, his government would fund 50,000 apprenticeships and traineeships for unemployed 22 […]
Four lead providers based in the north east have said they are taking steps to ensure more than 160 apprentices get qualifications after their subcontractor was said to have ceased trading. Learning Curve Group (LCG) chief executive Brenda McLeish (pictured) told FE Week on Tuesday that her company had been informed by Sunderland-based Xiscad Training […]
