Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable today announced details of how Government funding will support thousands of apprenticeships up to degree equivalent, enabling employers, colleges and universities to deliver the advanced skills most critical for growth.

£18.7m from the Higher Apprenticeship Fund will support the development of 19,000 new Higher Apprenticeships in sectors including construction, advanced engineering, insurance and financial services. Around 250 employers, including Leyland Trucks, Unilever, TNT, and Burberry will benefit from world class, nationally accredited technical training delivered in the workplace.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

“Investing in skills is central to our drive to boost business and productivity and make the UK more competitive.

“By radically expanding the number of degree level apprenticeships for young people, we will put practical learning on a level footing with academic study. This is an essential step that will help rebalance our economy and build a society in which opportunity and reward are fairly and productively distributed.”

Skills Minister John Hayes said:

“By reviving apprenticeships the Government has started to build a world class skills system to rival our country’s great reputation for academic excellence. We’ve driven up quality across the board, more than doubled the number of new advanced apprenticeships, created new routes into higher levels of practical learning and given employers more control of how the training budget is spent. We’re now targeting resources even more closely on the skills, firms and sectors that will lead economic recovery.”

The winning bids were unveiled as Dr Cable visited the distribution company TNT in Bodmin, Cornwall. TNT is part of a successful bid to the fund and will help deliver Higher Apprenticeships in Express Logistics.

The funding announced today is part of a £25m fund for Higher Apprenticeships announced in July. A second round of bids to the fund will be invited early in the New Year, focusing closely on further areas needed to support economic growth.

Nineteen partnerships comprising employers and training providers will receive a total of £17m, following a competitive bidding process. A further £1.7m has been invested in two new ‘Trailblazer’ projects in information technology and science, engineering and manufacturing, delivering 6,000 Higher Apprenticeships.

Recent reforms to the apprenticeships programme include initiatives to cut bureaucracy, provide financial incentives for small firms to hire apprentices, and reduce the time it takes an employer to employ an apprentice. Provisional data indicates record growth in apprenticeships numbers, with some 440,000 people starting an apprenticeship in 2010/11.

The following schools in North East Lincolnshire are expected to be closed on Wednesday November 30 due to industrial action.

Please note that this information may change; any updates will be reflected on this page as soon as possible.

Schools expected to close include:

St Andrew’s College
Healing – A Science Academy
Humberston Academy
Oasis Academy Immingham
Allerton Primary
Bursar Primary
East Ravendale CE Primary
Fairfield Primary
Great Coates Primary
Laceby Acres Primary
Macaulay Primary
St Josephs’ Catholic Primary
St Mary’s Catholic Primary
St Peter’s CE Primary
South Parade Primary
Springfield Primary
Stallingborough CE Primary
Weelsby Primary
Wybers Wood Primary
Yarborough Primary
Scartho Junior
Queen Mary Avenue Infants’
Scartho Infants’
Cambridge Park Academy College
Phoenix House
Park House
Schools expected to be partially closed include:

Edward Heneage Primary
Grange Primary
Lisle Marsden Primary
New Waltham Primary
Willows Primary
Signhills Academy

For the first time the Princes Trust TEAM Programme will be delivered in Grimsby and nine local young people are lucky enough to be taking part.

The programme, delivered at Peaks Lane Fire Station, is helping students to build self confidence, motivation and the skills needed to gain an education, training placement or employment as well as offering them an opportunity to recognise their own learning whilst gaining a nationally recognised qualification.

The team of nine, aged 17 – 26, will coordinate a community project to redesign the Princes Trust classroom to open it as venue for other local community groups to use, raising the funds themselves. They will also take part in team building activities and work placements.

The qualification, delivered in partnership with Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, is a 12 week personal development programme that aims to re-engages young people and encourages them to think about their future.

In final week of the programme, which will take place in December at Grimsby Town Football Club, the team will deliver a presentation where each member will speak about their experiences throughout the programme to members of the community, family and friends and potential employers.

Rich Fowler, Team Leader from Humberside Fire and Rescue Service said:

“These young people have come together from a range of diverse backgrounds to complete this intensive work-based learning programme and have so far excelled in all areas. This is the first time this type of programme has been introduced in Grimsby and we hope to build upon its success with two further programmes in 2012.”

Free early education will be extended to 140,000 disadvantaged two-year- olds, and parents will be able to access the free entitlement more flexibly, under plans published by the Government today.

In North East Lincolnshire around 600 two-year olds are expected to benefit from the proposals.

Liberal Democrat Children’s Minister, Sarah Teather, announced a consultation today on how this commitment will be implemented. The plans include proposals to help parents and children alike by making the free entitlement of 15 hours per week of early education more flexible, so it can be taken between 7am and 7pm across two days instead of the current three days.

Helping 600 two-year-old children from the poorest backgrounds in our area will benefit them for years to come.

High quality early education is the key to making a difference early on in a child’s life and help make Britain a fairer and more equal society.

Improving social mobility is a Liberal Democrat priority in Government and early year’s education is crucial to achieve this.

Targeting early education at those who stand to benefit most, it is important to achieve this goal. It will be an integral part to disadvantaged children’s healthy development. This means they’re not falling behind before they have even started primary school.

Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg said:

“I want us to give every child the best possible start – so free education for toddlers from the most disadvantaged homes will now be a right and not a privilege.

“Crucially the extra care will be flexible and easy to access. Parents across the country are bending over backwards to balance work and home. The Coalition wants to help in whatever way we can.”

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Liberal Democrat children’s minister Sarah Teather have published proposals to give 140,000 disadvantaged toddlers 15 hours of free early years education.

This is a key Liberal Democrat policy delivered by the Coalition Government. It builds upon our achievement of extending free childcare to 15 hours a week for all three and four-year-olds.

Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:

“Giving children a fair start in life is at the heart of what I and the Liberal Democrats are about. It is an absolute disgrace that a child born today in one the poorest neighbourhood in Sheffield, where I am an MP, can expect to live 14 years longer than one born in the wealthiest neighbourhood.

“We know that the earlier we help children the bigger difference we can make to their lives. That’s why I am proud to announce plans to give 15 hours free childcare for the 140,000 two-year-olds most in danger of falling behind.”

Liberal Democrat children’s minister Sarah Teather said:

“Our priority is to increase social mobility by helping children from the poorest backgrounds in their earliest years. High quality early education is the key to making a difference early on in a child’s life. It’s crucial for their healthy development and means they’re not falling behind before they have even started primary school.

“We want more children to be able to access their full early education entitlement. Too often, the most disadvantaged children don’t get what they are entitled to. It’s important we target early education at those who stand to benefit the most.

“We also want to make the entitlement more flexible, so that children don’t miss out on early education and parents can help balance their work and family life more easily.”

The announcement is part of a consultation, published today, on changes to free early education. The proposals published in the consultation will:

Make the free entitlement to 15 hours per week of free early education more flexible. This means parents would be able to access it earlier and later in the day – between 7am and 7pm – and across two days instead of three days.

?Use the criteria which is used for free school meals to decide which disadvantaged two-year-olds should qualify for free early education.

?Include two-year-olds who are looked after by the state in the eligibility criteria for free early education.

?Slim down the guidance for local authorities from 100 pages to fewer than 20 pages.

Nick Clegg announced in October 2010 that the Government would extend 15 hours of free early education – currently available to all three-and four-year olds – to disadvantaged two-year-olds. From September 2013 up to 140,000 disadvantaged two-year-olds will stand to benefit.

Local authorities in England have been delivering a targeted offer of between 10 and 15 hours of free early education to some of the most disadvantaged two-year-olds since September 2009. The extension of 15 hours to all disadvantaged two-year-olds will mean an increase in the number of places from 20,000 per year to around 140,000 per year

New Government plans mean that 140,000 disadvantaged two-year-olds could be given access to 15 hours a week of free early education.

In a consultation today, Nick Clegg and children’s minister Sarah Teather set out the plans, which will make the free early education entitlement more flexible and,will also be extended to include children looked after by the state, by adopting the conditions that are already being used for free school meals to decide who qualifies for the expansion.

Currently, all 152 local authorities in England offer between ten and 15 hours to a targeted number of children, but the new plans would increase the number eligible for free early education from 20,000 to 140,000.

Liberal Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg said:

“I want us to give every child the best possible start – so free education for toddlers from the most disadvantaged homes will now be a right and not a privilege”

The plans will extend the early education already available to three and four-year-olds to disadvantaged two-year-olds from September 2013. This follows a commitment made by Mr Clegg in October 2010 to extend free early education.

Fifteen trials testing the approaches of the expansion are being funded by the Department of Education in 18 local authorities. These trials will run until March 2012.

Liberal Democrat Children’s Minister Sarah Teather added:

“High quality early education is the key to making a difference early on in a child’s life. It’s crucial for their healthy development and means they’re not falling behind before they have even started primary school.

“We want more children to be able to access their full early education entitlement. Too often, the most disadvantaged children don’t get what they are entitled to. It’s important we target early education at those who stand to benefit the most.”

Events are happening across the country to bust the myths and misunderstandings about student finance

We all want bright students to go to uni if it’s right for them. Yet as all people hear about the 2012 changes in England are the £9,000 a year fees, mass fear & ignorance are putting them off. So MoneySavingExpert.com is backing Student Finance Day. Then again, we would; it’s run by Martin’s Independent Taskforce.

Free one-on-one help: Over 40 English unis are holding drop in sessions on Monday. You can go even if you’ve not applied to that uni. Plus from 4pm to 4.15pm on Mon, Martin will be holding a Twitter clinic with The Student Room, tweet questions to @martinslewis and use #unifees2012.

Free booklets for 6th formers & teachers: Download the You Can Afford to Go To Uni 6th formers’ booklet, and the new Teacher’s Guide to Student Finance.

Free videos: Watch the 3-min cartoon or Martin’s 30 minute video guide.

Free ‘What’ll it really cost’ calculator: Many yell that 2012 starters will leave with a dire £50,000 debt. The number’s true but mostly irrelevant as repayments depend only on earnings after graduation. Many will pay a lot less, some higher earners more than double. www.studentfinancecalc.com works out your real cost.

If you know students or parents worried about the cost of 2012 please send them these links

See also Student Loans 2012 The 20 key facts on fees, loans & grants everyone should know

It has been claimed that thousands of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are could be deterred from going to university due to a lack of understanding about the new fees system.

A report by the Independent Task Force on student finance information concluded that many prospective students have misplaced fears over how tuition fees are paid, a situation it described as a “national scandal”.

Researchers polled nearly 2,000 young people, 59% of whom said they had little or no understanding of the system, which will see tuition fees rise to up to £9,000 a year from next September. The findings come on the day of a central London march by around 10,000 protesters angry about the new system.

Only 37% of those polled knew they did not have to pay any of the fees up-front.

Martin Lewis, chairman of the task force, said:

“The communication of tuition fees by all [political] parties over the past few years is a national scandal

“They’ve left us ill-equipped and uneducated as a nation about how this crucial and very different form of finance works.”

He said the “myths and misunderstandings due to the focus on the politics and not the practical finances may well end up more damaging to prospective students’ aspirations than the new fees themselves”. He added: “It’s likely many put off by big fees are the more debt-averse from non-traditional university backgrounds – a real threat to social mobility.”

Provisional figures published today indicate that apprenticeship starts for academic year 2010/11 have risen by more than 50% compared to the final figures for2009-10.

The Statistical First Release shows that apprenticeship numbers have risen across all age ranges and levels of training across the apprenticeships programme.

The data shows that there were 442,700 apprenticeship starts in the full 2010/11 academic year (final data for 2009/10 shows 279,700 starts).

Business Secretary Vince Cable said:

“This Government’s unprecedented investment in apprenticeships is working for businesses and creating long term career opportunities for record numbers of trainees.

“I’m particularly pleased that vital sectors like construction, manufacturing and engineering are continuing to back apprenticeships, despite tough economic times. By helping firms build a stronger skills base, this investment puts businesses on solid foundations to deliver sustainable growth and a more balanced and inclusive economy.

“The Government will continue to improve and strengthen the apprenticeships programme to drive up standards, cut bureaucracy for smaller firms and deliver more advanced level and high tech training.”

Of the 442,700 apprenticeships starts between August 2010 and July 2011 there were:

292,700 Intermediate Level apprenticeship starts (2009/10 figure 190,500);
147,900 Advanced Level apprenticeship starts (2009/10 figure 87,700);
2,100 Higher Apprenticeship starts (2009/10 figure 1,500).

128,300 apprenticeship starts by those aged under 19 ( 2009/10 figure 116,800);
138,900 apprenticeship starts by 19–24 year olds (2009/10 figure 113,800);
175,500 apprenticeship starts by those aged 25 and over (2009/10 figure 49,100).

The largest sectors were:

Business, Administration and Law with 130,290 apprenticeship starts (76,590 in 2009/10);
Retail and Commercial Enterprise with 100,630 apprenticeship starts (61,620 in 2009/10);
Health, Public Services and Care with 86,120 apprenticeship starts (44,150 in 2009/10).

Apprenticeship starts in key growth sectors remain substantial:

Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies with 47,020 apprenticeship starts (37,860 in 2009/10);
Construction, Planning and the Built Environment with 26,560 apprenticeship starts (25,210 in 2009/10);
Information and Communication Technology with 19,160 apprenticeship starts (12,570 in 2009/10).

I came across an interesting article on tuition fees today. I wish I had written it myself!

Today is the day I say NO to Labour lies on tuition fees. Won’t you join me?: http://ht.ly/7axse