Blog Archives: November 2016

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What the Autumn Statement reveals for education and skills

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Thursday 24 November 2016

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

This year’s Autumn Statement included very little about education, despite calls from the sector to safeguard the Adult Education Budget (AEB), increase the levels of funding available for 16-19 year olds, and increase the amount the government will spend on English and Maths in the delivery of apprenticeships. Chancellor Philip Hammond opened by talking about the state of the economy. He said that the UK has the ‘fastest growing major economy this year’, but growth will be downgraded next year to 1.4 % from 2.2%. He confirmed that there would be no surplus in 2019/20 – which was in the Conservative manifesto. Instead, the government budget is to be balanced ‘as early as possible’ in the next parliament – bringing the welfare cap back – and debt is to fall as a share of national income by 2020. The deficit is now projected to be £21 billion going into the next General Election.

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Education for All bill dropped but more changes may be on the horizon

By Esme Winch, Managing Director, Wednesday 16 November 2016

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The Education for All bill has been shelved this month, in a move by Education Secretary Justine Greening. This means that measures planned by her predecessor Nicky Morgan for all poor or low performing schools to convert to academies have now ended and the process for schools to convert is now voluntary. The bill has been replaced by the Technical and Further Education Act 2016. The Act aims to set out extending the role of the Institute for Apprenticeships to cover school and college-based technical education as well as apprenticeships. This bill will then combine all current apprenticeship and further education reforms in one act of parliament.

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GCSE resits – a test too far?

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Wednesday 16 November 2016

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

The thorny issue of GCSE resits has come to the fore recently, with stories of colleges and training providers having to hire out huge venues to house the numbers of students retaking the examinations. Whilst I support the aim of ensuring learners that are able to, achieve their A-C (or 9-5) grade in GCSE maths and English, I feel that the focus on driving those learners who are unable to achieve the GCSE to retake the examination serves no purpose other than to frustrate these learners.

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Apprenticeship funding and the Autumn Statement

By Esme Winch, Managing Director, Tuesday 15 November 2016

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This month saw the long anticipated feedback from the Department for Education (DfE) on the changes to apprenticeship funding, due to be implemented from May 2017. Following overwhelming feedback from the sector, the DfE has engaged with employers, training providers and interested stakeholders to inform and adapt the provisional funding levels for frameworks and standards initially rolled out in the summer. One of the key issues was around the additional costs associated with training 16-18 year olds on an apprenticeship framework. To resolve this issue, providers will now receive an additional payment from government, equivalent to 20% of the funding band maximum for that framework.

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Learning Curve Group at the TSA Conference

By Dayle Crossman, Guest Blogger, Friday 04 November 2016

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Learning Curve Group were delighted to attend the International Technology in Care Conference this month as the TSA’s Educational Partner of Choice. The conference, which is the biggest of its kind, saw telecare providers and innovators from across the world meet at the ICC in Birmingham. The LCG stand attracted a lot of attention over the two-day event due to the brilliant fully-funded training and bespoke courses that we are offering to all TSA members.

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