AELP | FE Week

Funding reform will see 16-18 apprenticeships ‘drop by two thirds’

The government must make a “clear and unambiguous” commitment to 16-to-18 apprenticeships, after a major provider warned that funding changes will cause its starts for that age group to plummet by two thirds. The claim was made by Jon Graham, chief executive of JTL, which specialises in training for the building services engineering sector, in […]

Scotland to spend less than half their levy funding on apprenticeships

The Scottish government has announced that its use of the apprenticeships levy will be more flexible than in England, funding a “range of employment measures”. Less than half of Scotland’s estimated £221m levy funding in 2017-18 will be used for apprenticeships, with the rest to be spent on a range of workforce development and pre-employment support […]

Don’t abolish 16-18 apprenticeships!

IPPR are wrong – employers do want to give 16-18-year-olds apprenticeships. The real problem is that schools won’t promote them and government won’t fund them, says Mark Dawe. A report has been published by an influential think tank that attempts to influence ministers based on a false premise: i.e. employers aren’t interested in offering 16- […]

Prisoners to work towards apprenticeships

Offenders will be able to work towards an apprenticeship while in prison for the first time under new plans put forward by the government. The new prisoner apprenticeship pathway, set to be introduced next year, is one of a number of proposals to reform prison education included in the Prison Safety and Reform white paper, […]

Rise in SFA contracts for small providers

Plans to cut the number of recipients of Skills Funding Agency cash have been shelved in an attempt to increase the provider base for degree and higher-level apprenticeships, and advanced learner loans. A total of 1,023 providers received direct SFA funding this academic year, up from 984 at the start of 2015/16. The SFA first attempted to introduce a […]

Employers more satisfied with private training providers than colleges

Private training providers will be patting themselves on the back this week, following Skills Funding Agency research that revealed they are significantly more popular with employers than general FE colleges. Training providers scored a massive 83.9 per cent for employer satisfaction according to the results of the latest SFA employer satisfaction survey, while colleges’ rating […]