York College
‘apprenticeships’
Providers underdelivered on 16 to 18 apprenticeships by more than £61m last year, newly-released Skills Funding Agency figures have revealed. The agency’s final allocation for under 19 apprentices stood at £783m in June — but providers missed the target by almost 8 per cent. The numbers come just a week after the latest Statistical First […]
News
A Liverpool-based provider that trained around 700 learners has gone into administration, putting 70 jobs at risk. Scientiam appointed administrators from Mazars LLP on Monday, February 4. It held a £2.5m contract with the Skills Funding Agency and had up to five subcontractors. A statement issued by Mazars, which is looking for organisations to take […]
Tough new rules forcing prime contractors to go public with information on their deals with providers are to be introduced by the Skills Funding Agency. See paragraphs 342 to 346 on pages 79 to 81 in the Funding Rules 2013/14. Regulations that will come into force from August will require primes to publish details of their […]
The number of under 19 apprenticeships has fallen for the first time in three years — and figures indicate the slide could get worse. The latest Statistical First Release shows there were 1,800 fewer 16 to 18-year-old apprenticeship starts last year than in 2010/11 – a 1.4 per cent fall. And provisional figures for the […]
The government last week published its response to the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee report on apprenticeships. Committee chair Adrian Bailey MP examines the response. Apprenticeships can play a pivotal role in creating the skilled workforce necessary for economic growth. I welcome the government’s agreement with this main thrust of our report. The Richard […]
Opinion
The government has set up a Skills Funding Agency-led review to look into the issue of potential conflicts of interest where awarding organisations also deliver education, FE Week can reveal. Ofqual, the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) are also on board in a task and finish group […]
The Education Select Committee looked at the issue of careers guidance and produced a report that questioned the impartiality of schools now tasked with providing the service. Graham Hoyle OBE puts forward his suggestions to remedy the problem. Lord Baker of the Baker-Dearing Trust has proposed that at age 14, pupils should make a choice […]
Traineeships were put firmly on the FE agenda by sector minister Matthew Hancock this month when he revealed plans for a new pre-apprenticeship scheme. Chris Jones takes up the issue and explains what he thinks needs to be considered when the final traineeship model is drawn up. Further education Minister Matthew Hancock’s recent announcement about […]
Apprenticeships should be redefined as “intensive three-year training programmes” to help curb the 31 per cent A-levels drop-out rate, new research revealed. The Policy Exchange thinktank released a report with several recommendations and said there needed to be “a clear alternative route offering high quality technical or vocational provision”. It named apprenticeships as a “key […]
