Skip to content
22 April 2026

Tag: Lord Sainsbury

IfA yet to review duplicate and low-skill standards

The Institute for Apprenticeships has yet to carry out any formal review of duplicate, narrow or low-skill standards – two years after being urged to do so by influential peer Lord Sainsbury. Demands are growing for the institute to “take stock” and focus on quality rather than numbers, with 300 standards now approved for delivery […]

Lord Sainsbury criticised over ‘retail assistant’ comments

Lord Sainsbury has been branded an “elitist” after he claimed in a speech to the Association of Colleges’ annual conference that certain jobs, such as retail assistant, should not be counted as technical education. His comments prompted Mark Dawe (pictured), the boss of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, to hit out at him […]

Ministers need to fund technical education, says Lord Sainsbury

Ministers need to take a more realistic view of the cost of high-quality technical education and increase funding to it accordingly, Lord Sainsbury has said, as the government begins to implement his recommendations for a slimmed down system. His influential report on technical education has heavily informed the government’s new skills plan, which will see […]

Lord Sainsbury demands more cash for technical education

Key government skills advisor Lord Sainsbury has urged ministers to take a more realistic view of the cost of high quality technical education and increase funding, as it implements recommendations on a slimmed down system. His ‘Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education’ was a key influence on the government’s subsequent skills plan, which […]

Education secretary commits to focusing ‘much more’ on FE

A firm commitment has been made by education secretary Justine Greening to “focus much more” on FE. She made the encouraging comments during a speech at an event in London today to celebrate the Education Endowment Foundation’s fifth anniversary. Ms Greening admitted that the government had “for a long time” focused mainly on improving academic […]