A very warm welcome to Nadhim Zahawi as our new Secretary of State for Education. Judging by the texts received from colleagues who know him, especially from his days as David Cameron’s apprenticeships adviser, I think we have very good reason to be optimistic about his appointment. The minister’s first press statement which included his wish for everyone to have access to “the right qualifications and opportunities to secure good jobs” was really encouraging and I have responded by expressing

On Wednesday of this week I had the privilege of being on a panel organised by Ofsted, as part of their preparation for the resumption of inspections on the EIF. I was able to give their inspectors a summary of the major issues that providers are currently handling at the moment – none of which are excuses for poor delivery, but all of which need to be taken into account when asking questions about how delivery is being planned and undertaken. It was a very enjoyable session and I was genuinely

No one could describe August as quiet when the DfE and the agencies continued to publish updated guidance for various programmes in recognition that Covid hasn’t gone away. Nevertheless September has begun with real anticipation of the Treasury cranking up the gears for the autumn Spending Review although the other departments are still working on getting their own bids finalised. AELP is making its usual representations about putting apprenticeships on a long-term sustainable footing. We still

Logistics, hospitality and the adult care sector – what do they have in common? The answer is massive staff shortages with Brexit and the pandemic being seen as key factors behind the huge number of job vacancies in these sectors. I am not going to start a debate on the merits of Brexit but the day after the EU referendum in 2016, AELP said, “The referendum result means that a skilled British workforce will be needed more than ever, so the target of 3 million apprenticeship starts by 2020 takes

After what has been a long hard 18 months or so for so many of our members, it was fantastic to hear this week that AELP member LDN Apprenticeships has been judged as ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted after a recent full inspection. As you know, Ofsted inspectors have spent most of their time focusing on visits to relatively new providers, but the return to more full inspections is now gathering pace. I could pick out so many quotes from the inspection report for LDN Apprenticeships but I particularly

The August period tends to be rather all or nothing – Parliament is in recess, many providers have wound down for the summer, and (even if they haven’t) many learners and staff are away on holiday or just enjoying some downtime. As a result, for those remaining it can be either a welcome quiet period of the year, or pandemonium if something unwelcome happens because getting hold of the right people to deal with it can be somewhat of a challenge!

Jane is taking a well-earned rest, so with impeccable timing I’m able to come off the bench this week and start with some really positive news. After weeks of constructive discussions with the Institute, Thursday’s IfATE announcement on the permanent retention of seven pandemic related flexibilities for the training and assessment of apprentices (COVID-19 apprenticeship measures to run to end of 2021 / Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education) saw two big wins for us. Firstly the

This week I wrote to Gavin Williamson about the latest AEB procurement debacle after receiving a deeply unsatisfactory reply from Eileen Milner at the ESFA. I am sure that you will be as disappointed as me to learn that the agency’s view is that “a delay was reasonably foreseeable and providers usually put contingency arrangements in place”. This arrived at the same time as long-established AEB providers were emailing to say that they were suddenly having to make loyal and committed staff