Robert Halfon | FE Week

Unsuccessful applicants can reapply for apprenticeships register… but deadline is tight

Providers that feel aggrieved because they did not make it onto the new Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers will be able to reapply from tomorrow – with a quick turnaround needed to get them all in by 5pm on April 7. Apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon (pictured above) made the announcement during education questions in […]

What’s on during National Apprenticeship Week 2017: Climbing the ladder of opportunity

The tenth National Apprenticeship Week will be celebrated across the country this year with an adventurous round of activities. The celebration, of all the wonderful things that apprenticeships have to offer, kicks off on Monday, March 6. This year’s theme is the skills minster Robert Halfon’s [pictured above] concept of the “ladder of opportunity”, and […]

Halfon puts lifelong learning back in the spotlight

Lifelong learning is firmly back on the government’s agenda, according to the skills and apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon, who says the government’s new industrial strategy includes provisions for adult education. The green paper released on January 23 acknowledged a “growing challenge” with training for older people, and committed to exploring “ambitious new approaches to encouraging […]

Are career colleges working two and a half years on?

Apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon has paid his first visit to a career college, attending London South East Colleges’ Hospitality, Food and Enterprise Career College in Orpington. He was treated to afternoon tea by students and praised the college’s work in supporting “those from disadvantaged backgrounds to get onto the ladder of opportunity”. In light of […]

Bailouts for failing colleges reach £140 million says Halfon

College bailouts have cost the UK a whopping £140 million, the apprenticeships minister has admitted. Robert Halfon confessed to the House of Commons that by March the government expects to have dropped “a total of about £140 million on propping up colleges facing extreme financial difficulties”. That money, he added during a debate on the […]

Delayed area reviews outcomes bring limited change

Most colleges involved in the first two waves of the area reviews will neither change nor merge, it has been revealed. This lack of change was laid bare in the long overdue reports into the first 13 areas, which were finally published on Tuesday (November 29). Just 21 mergers involving 45 colleges are proposed – […]

Lead DfE civil servant debunks Skills Plan ‘myth’

The government’s controversial plans to replace over 20,000 technical courses with 15 routes won’t lead to just 15 qualifications, a top civil servant has insisted. Warwick Sharp, the deputy director 16-19 strategy at the Department for Education, said it was a “myth” that the streamlining – which many in the sector worry is too drastic […]

Race on to approve assessors in time for apprentices finishing in March

Fresh concerns have been raised about endpoint tests on apprenticeships, after an FE Week investigation found learners who will finish in March on a new standard without any officially approved awarding organisation. Global insurance company Aon has confirmed this to be the case for the first wave of students taking its level three insurance practitioner […]

Fruity reception expected for Halfon’s apples and pears

Members of the Sub-Committee on Education, Skills and the Economy could be forgiven for getting fruity with Robert Halfon – just over 24 hours after his apples and pears analogy for apprenticeships left MPs fuming. The FE minister is set to face his second set of tough questions on apprenticeship reforms this week, during a […]