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‘apprenticeships’

Byrne quizzed on ‘pregnant panda question’

Labour’s stance on government apprenticeship reforms in which employers will take a greater role in drawing up frameworks and be expected to pay 33 per cent of provider costs has been likened to a “pregnant panda question”. Shadow Skills Minister Liam Byrne was put on the spot about his party’s view of the apprenticeship reforms […]

News

Apprenticeships for trainers and assessors?

The publication by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) of the Professional Standards for Teachers and Trainers in Education and Training, and the supporting guidance, provides the sector with an inspirational yet realistic framework to build on. Traditionally work-based learning and apprenticeship providers have far fewer graduate employees than other education sectors. Most of our […]

Opinion

Apprentice funding ‘too generous but still off-putting to small firms’

Mick Fletcher casts his eye over the government’s introduction of a 33 per cent mandatory cash contribution from employers towards the cost of apprentice training. The new guidance on trailblazer funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is a heroic attempt to achieve incompatible policy objectives. Encouraging more employers to take on apprentices […]

Opinion

Taking the apprenticeship extras into account

With the government having announced it would expect employers to pay a third of the apprenticeship training costs, Charlie Mullins looks at the wider financial and social costs of the programme. Transforming the potential of an enthusiastic young person into a highly qualified tradesperson by means of an apprenticeship shouldn’t be difficult, but for some […]

Opinion

Apprentice chief forces home cash message on funding reforms

A high-ranking government official has reinforced Skills Minister Matthew Hancock’s assertion that only cold, hard cash would count as employers’ mandatory contribution to apprentice training costs. Jennifer Coupland, deputy director of the Joint Apprenticeships Unit at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Education (DfE), told delegates at the Association […]

News

Apprenticeship target in Queen’s Speech draws ‘to-ing and fro-ing’ warning on reforms

The government has been warned about “to-ing and fro-ing” on apprenticeships policy after a Queen’s Speech today in which the programme was given a target of 2m starts in England. The annual speech sets out what the government’s priorities will be for the next term of parliament and this year apprenticeships featured just a week after […]

News

Prince gives royal seal of approval to apprenticeships

Prince Andrew said he had been encouraging young people to start an apprenticeship rather than go to university during a visit to Kirklees College. The prince officially opened the college’s new £74m Huddersfield Centre, which contains nine floors of classrooms and workshops, a gym, training kitchens and restaurant, hair and beauty salons, and a mock air cabin simulator. He told guests he had been “trying to encourage young people to […]

Bulletin

Minister rejects calls to scrap apprenticeship fees at AELP conference

Skills Minister Matthew Hancock has rejected calls for in-kind contributions towards apprenticeships to count as part of employers’ mandatory cash payments. Mr Hancock re-affirmed his preference for mandatory cash contributions from employers after calls from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP)  for other elements to be […]

News

Election countdown brings AELP call for more joined-up policy on youth unemployment

Greater integration of government policy on youth unemployment is among the priorities for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) as outlined in its updated manifesto, released today. The document, out on the first day of the AELP’s two-day annual conference in London, takes stock of priorities and outlines key areas of sector debate […]

News