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Apprenticeships: Levy and Funding Update

By Paul Turner, Futures Leader, Thursday 27 October 2016

Paul Turner

The government has released further details on the levy and how it’s going to work from April/May 2017 – we’ve summarised the key information you need to know below. It appears that some changes and concessions have been made to certain aspects following the consultation round, subsequent analysis and a touch of press campaigning.

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What did the Conservative Party Conference reveal?

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Tuesday 18 October 2016

David Grailey

NCFE spent some time at the Conservative Party Conference this year, seeking insight into the new government’s education and skills reforms. Here’s a round-up of what we found out during the four days of the Conference and what the government will be focusing on. What is immediately striking is the extent to which the decision to leave the European Union is overshadowing all other government discussions and decision-making for the foreseeable future. Prime Minister Theresa May has clarified that Article 50 will be invoked by spring next year – effectively giving a minimum of 2 years for negotiations to leave the EU. This will involve a significant level of negotiation with existing EU members as well as a substantial amount of work removing EU legislation from UK statute (the ‘Great Repeal Act’).

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Apprenticeships: quality over quantity

By Michael Lemin, Policy and Research Manager, Tuesday 18 October 2016

michael blog.jpg

There appears to be some confusion in government over apprenticeships at the moment. Perhaps it’s an inevitable consequence of changing the Prime Minister, Education Secretary and Skills Minister in the middle of one of the most ground-breaking reforms to skills policy for decades. At the Conservative Party Conference, the Prime Minister listed some of her party’s achievements over the past 6 years. Included in this list was the claim that the government has “created nearly 3 million apprenticeships.”

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Likely win for #SaveOurApprenticeships but lessons for government are more important

By Nick Linford, Writing exclusively for NCFE, Wednesday 12 October 2016

Nicklinford

The FE Week newspaper, which I edit, has reported that the government is on the verge of announcing a u-turn on the apprenticeship funding rate. Unless you’ve been ‘off the grid’ for the last two months, you’ll be aware the government approach to reform meant cuts to 16-18 apprenticeship framework funding rates from 1 May 2017.

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Grammar schools debate draws attention away from important issues

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Wednesday 21 September 2016

David Grailey

At the beginning of the summer, it would have been inconceivable that the government would be considering bringing back academic selection in schools. Yet here we are in September, with the story attracting news headlines in the national press, all starting with a photo of a document being carried into 10 Downing Street mentioning new grammar schools. The timing of the issue is the most surprising. The new Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening, had one of the rarest and most useful things in politics; a fresh slate. There could be a real risk to her image with a controversial policy like this, and it seems like a political own goal for the first Education Secretary who was educated at a comprehensive school to be the one to re-introduce academic selection. In fairness to Ms Greening, it’s clear that the driving force behind the policy is the Prime Minister herself.

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