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‘apprenticeships’

Apprenticeship reforms ‘not in long grass’ — Boles

Skills Minister Nick Boles denied apprenticeship reforms had been “kicked into the long grass” after the government went back to the drawing board with plans to route funding through employers. Mr Boles was quizzed by MPs on the House of Commons Education Select Committee on Wednesday (January 14) — the day after the government said […]

News

Confusion as official websites return different apprenticeship results

Concerns that two official apprenticeship websites could be causing confusion have emerged with identical vacancy searches returning vastly different results. The Skills Funding Agency is keeping its old vacancy matching website running until April while its replacement, which has already gone live, is being tested and developed. However, with an example search on the old […]

News

British Gas cutting flow of 16 to 18 apprentices

British Gas failed to deliver a massive 89 per cent of its £2.5m initial allocation for 16 to 18 apprenticeships last academic year. Skills Funding Agency (SFA) data shows the energy giant, which started 13 times more apprentices over the age of 18, was ultimately paid £2.2m less than its July 2013 allocation for the […]

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EXCLUSIVE: SFA hits providers with shock funding clawback warning

More than 700 colleges and independent learning providers have been warned by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) that they face a shock clawback on 2013/14 funding after it “identified some provision that has been incorrectly claimed,” FE Week can reveal. Una Bennett (pictured above), deputy director for funding systems for the SFA, wrote to providers […]

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Apprenticeships are the ‘major casualty’ amid funding uncertainty

The government has said more research was needed before it could take its apprenticeship funding reform plans any further. Lynne Sedgmore considers where this leaves the sector — and the programme. The announcement from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on apprenticeship funding reform clearly illustrates a setback for government. The statement that its […]

Opinion

Apprenticeship reform proposals were ‘half-cocked,’ Skills Minister Nick Boles tells MPs

Skills Minister Nick Boles has told the House of Commons Education Select Committee that the government had “gone off half-cock” [sic] on apprenticeship reform. He appeared in front of the committee as part of its investigation into apprenticeships and traineeships for 16 to 19-year-olds this morning  — less than 24 hours after he ruled that more research was […]

News

Apprenticeship funding question remains unanswered as government consults further on PAYE and credit account

The future of apprenticeship funding remains unclear despite the government this morning responding to the results of a three-month technical consultation last year. The government has pledged further “collaborative” consultation after neither of the proposed mechanisms to fund apprenticeships emerged as a clear favourite. Funding for apprenticeships is currently routed through providers, but in future […]

News

Two thirds of providers fail to hit allocations

Two thirds of FE and skills providers failed to deliver their final 2013/14 Adult Skills Budget (ASB) allocation by a total of £111.8m, FE Week can reveal. Skills Funding Agency (SFA) allocations data shows that 888 colleges and independent learning providers (ILPs) were earmarked a total of £2,210.7m ASB cash in June. But FE Week […]

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Counting the cost of Labour’s plans to reform apprenticeships

Labour’s apprenticeship proposals could cost taxpayers as much as £11.7bn over the course of the next parliament, according to Treasury research. Costings of 28 Labour policies were published on Monday (January 5), including three on apprenticeships and a further four affecting the wider FE and skills sector (see below). They suggested Labour’s spending plans would […]

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