Anne Milton | FE Week

Open letter sees government on defensive before apprenticeship figures announced

The government is on the defensive one day before the latest apprenticeship figures appear, expected to show a continued year-on-year drop. An open letter signed by skills minister Anne Milton, Institute for Apprenticeships boss Sir Gerry Berragan (pictured above) and dozens of senior figures from business schools, businesses and other organisations wants the sector to […]

Anne Milton hasn’t met the IfA’s apprentice panel in its first year

The skills minister has still not met with the Institute for Apprenticeships’ panel of apprentices – more than 12 months after it was established. The panel, which first met last April, is made up of current or recent apprentices who discuss issues from the learner’s perspective and raise with the main IfA board. Shadow skills […]

Skills minister and ESFA boss speaking at AELP conference

The skills minister and the recently appointed leader of the Education and Skills Funding Agency are the standout speakers at this year’s national conference for independent FE providers. The Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ biggest annual event is taking place over June 25 and 26 in London’s Hammersmith. FE Week is the media partner […]

32 adult learning projects share £11.7 million fund

The projects which will share a £11.7 million fund to help more adults back into the classroom have been announced. The Flexible Learning Fund will support 32 “innovative” projects across England. The idea is to “encourage more people to take part in new training or courses that will help them progress in current employment or […]

Applications open for nine new T-level employer panels

Representatives from business are being asked to apply to join panels that will help develop new T-levels. The Department for Education is establishing employer panels for T-level routes that will be delivered from 2022, in agriculture, environmental and animal care; business and administration; catering and hospitality; creative and design; and hair and beauty. “The DfE is […]

Milton not budging on 20% off-the-job training rule

The 20-per-cent off-the-job training rule is the biggest barrier to apprenticeship recruitment according to an FE Week survey – but Anne Milton will not budge on it. The contentious policy was attacked by more than a quarter of respondents to our annual survey, where we asked readers which single policy change would make the apprenticeship […]

Job-switch plan stalls for former Carillion apprentices

Efforts to find alternative employers for former Carillion apprentices have stalled, because it’s proving difficult to match them with companies close enough to where they live. Skills minister Anne Milton announced in late January that over half of the 1,400 affected trainees had been found alternative roles since the outsourcing giant collapsed. This was down […]

Non-levy apprenticeship funding process was as fair as possible

Every month, Anne Milton, the minister in charge of skills and apprenticeships, will write a column for FE Week, giving her perspective on the issues facing the sector. For her first outing, she tackles the non-levy procurement exercise As a government we have made significant changes to the way our apprenticeship system will work – […]

Minster launches consultation on college insolvency roll-out

The skills minister is asking for views on how new college insolvency arrangements should be rolled out. An eight-week consultation seeks views from staff at general FE colleges, sixth-form colleges, local authorities, financial institutions and others from across FE, as well as insolvency practitioners. Launched by Anne Milton and the Department for Education, it opened […]