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1 Issue 02 July 2013 Welcome Communications Update is a new monthly channel designed for marketing, communications and business development staff in colleges and training organisations; bringing you information and marketing materials for Skills Funding Agency products and services. This issue also has information on a partner event and a marketing colleague s view from the front line. Please forward and share Communications Update with your marketing, communication or business development colleagues.communications Update will be published the first week of every month on the Agency s website. Send us your feedback or if you wish to subscribe please get in touch by ing Communicationsupdate@skillsfundingagency.bis.gov.uk In this issue: 1. College and Training Organisation Survey Sunemployment Roadshows 3. New Qualifications Table 4. Summer Exam Results Campaign 5. Apprenticeship vacancies: Benefit from our pool of over one million active Apprenticeship candidates 6. Apprentice Team of the Year: Brathay Apprentice Challenge 7. National Apprenticeship Awards Traineeships: Age extension to cover 16- to 24-year-olds 9. AELP: Reporting from the Front Line

2 1. College and Training Organisation Survey 2013 Action We have launched our third annual college and training organisation survey and we would very much welcome your views and perceptions of how we are performing in three key areas: our role the way we operate and the way we communicate with you. Since last year s survey we have been developing our role, working closely with you to simplify the funding system and reduce its bureaucracy and complexity. This will ensure that you have greater freedoms and flexibilities to respond more effectively to the needs of learners and employers. We now want to take stock of where we are and to understand your views on this, so we can measure our progress, identify further improvements and work with the further education sector to take these forward. The survey runs until Friday, 19 July; it is brief and should take no more than 10 minutes of your time. You can also access the survey on the College and Training Organisation section of our website. We will publish a summary of the results in a future edition of Update. 2. Sunemployment Roadshows Promotion The National Careers Service is supporting the Sunemployment Roadshows managed by The Sun newspaper. This is a week of events that started in Cardiff on Monday, 1 July followed by Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle culminating in London

3 on Friday, 5 July. To maximise all media opportunities, we will use our social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook promote the events. The roadshows consist of a jobs fair from 10.30am to 2.30pm, where employers can advertise their jobs for free and interview candidates on the day. The National Careers Service will have a stall at each event, manned by careers advisers, speaking to people looking for work and providing quality information, advice and guidance to anyone looking for help getting into work. The event also includes a celebrity panel debate, from midday to 1.00pm, featuring high-profile employment experts. This will give roadshow visitors the chance to quiz Britain s best business brains on advice for getting back into work or moving up the career ladder. National Careers Service adviser Laurie McLoughlin will sit on the panel at Friday s event in London, alongside Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. For further information, please contact the Press Office. 3. New Qualifications Table New on the National Careers Service website this month is a qualifications table, which enables customers to check the level of their qualifications. As this information is required at the start of the Skills Health Check, the qualifications table will help to ensure the correct information is entered. We want to make the website accessible to all, so we have created a new page offering advice on where you can get public internet access. Additionally, we have launched ID Safe, a new way for customers to get their course information onto their Personal Learning Record. ID Safe is a secure way of verifying customer s identity and enables their course details to be uploaded automatically.

4 For more information, please contact Karen Turner. 4. Summer Exam Results Campaign In August, the National Careers Service and the National Apprenticeship Service are launching a campaign promoting the benefits of careers advice for exam results season. The National Careers Service will be available for young people (and their parents) receiving their exam results, with careers advice through the helpline, website and online chat facility. We will also run an integrated exam results campaign with the Apprenticeships campaign called #Apprenticeships1 st, which involves PR, social media and marketing and communications though our network of prime contractors across the country. We will produce a communications toolkit outlining activity to support partners, stakeholders and prime contractors, which we will share with you in due course. We will promote the campaign on our social media channels, where you can help us raise awareness by liking / sharing and retweeting our posts. Like us on Facebook: and follow us on Twitter. For further information, please contact the Marcomms team.

5 5. Apprenticeship vacancies: Benefit from our pool of over one million active Apprenticeship candidates Promotion In the run up to the school and college exam results period the National Apprenticeship Service is encouraging all colleges and training organisations to make sure that all their Apprenticeship opportunities are available on Apprenticeship vacancies, the jobsite for Apprenticeships. The summer months are a critical time for Apprenticeship opportunities and with over a million candidates using Apprenticeship vacancies there is no better place to promote your vacancies. Each vacancy is also available through our mobile phone app, Av Search, which already has had more than 7,500 downloads. We will have extensive media coverage to further promote high-profile vacancies around the exam results period, so make sure you don t miss out on this opportunity. If you need any support using Apprenticeship vacancies, please contact your local Av Support team. For contact details, please refer to the Apprenticeships website or nationalhelpdesk@apprenticeships.gov.uk. 6. Apprentice Team of the Year: Brathay Apprentice Challenge Following a six-month challenge against 90 teams of apprentices from some of the country s leading employers and training organisations, nine apprentices from Innovia Films in Cumbria became the country s official 'apprentice team of the year. The team met the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Vince Cable at Westminster who congratulated them on their success. The Brathay Apprentice Challenge 2013 is the official search for the apprentice team of the year, supported by the National Apprenticeship Service. In total more than 800

6 apprentices visited 300 schools to talk about Apprenticeships and completed 60 community projects. Now in its second year, the nationwide competition culminated in an adventure challenge for the eight selected finalists at the Brathay Trust s Windermere headquarters last month. Innovia Films beat tough competition from the seven other teams, raising more than 6,000 for charity. This involved renovating sites for Chrysalis, a charity that works with adults with learning disabilities. The final stages saw Innovia Films narrowly beat Norse Group and 2012 winners Cobham into second place. View the film from the Brathay Apprentice Challenge final. For more information on the Challenge, please refer to the Apprenticeships website. 7. National Apprenticeship Awards 2013 The 1,600 entrants to the National Apprenticeship Awards 2013 were informed if their entry has progressed to the next stage. Later this month, the regional judging panel will let finalists know if they have been selected. The regional winners will progress to the national judging and the nominated finalists will be invited to The Skills Show, NEC Birmingham in November The regional City & Guilds Apprenticeship Champion category winners will face a public vote in order to determine who is crowned the National winner. Each Champion applicant will be responsible for promoting themselves within their organisation, region and beyond in order to maximise the number of votes for their application. The National Apprenticeship Service is pleased to announce BAE Systems continued support of the National Apprenticeship Awards as an official title sponsor for the 10 th

7 year running. Nuclear Decommissioning SLC is supporting the Medium Employer of the Year Awards for their fourth year. If you know of a stakeholder interested in taking ownership of a category title, hosting the National Awards ceremony reception or supporting through a patron package, please contact the Awards Manager, Sally Askew on for more information. 8. Traineeships: Age extension to cover 16- to 24-year-olds On 26 June, the Government announced that the age group for Traineeships will be extended from 16- to 19-year-olds to young people up to the age of 24. Traineeships will give young people the chance to develop the skills wanted by employers, making them more competitive when applying for future opportunities. Traineeships will: be available for young people aged provide a high-quality work placement (between six weeks and five months), focused work preparation training and English and maths last a maximum of six months include training provided only by employers or education and training organisations rated outstanding or good by Ofsted Employers and learning providers can tailor Traineeships with additional content to meet individual and local labour market needs. The age extension will apply from 2013/14. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Education will publish an updated Framework for Delivery, and the Skills Funding Agency will make new funding guidance available shortly.

8 For further information, please refer to the Traineeships section of the Apprenticeships website or call AELP: Reporting from the Front Line Stewart Segal, Chief Executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers Day begins at 8.00am It starts with what else would it be these days? Paul Warner, the AELP s Director of Employment and Skills, has sent me a report on his latest meeting with the Education Funding Agency and Skills Funding Agency officials on the new Traineeships programme, and I reply. The AELP is pleased with the way that the programme is shaping up for its August launch but we must make sure that the rules allow flexible provision. 9.00am I have a phone conversation with my Chairman, Martin Dunford, on the outcome of the Government s Spending Review for the sector. As well as the headlines on extending the eligibility of Traineeships, Martin is particularly interested in the announcements on skills and ESOL provision for the unemployed. 9.30am More telephone discussions with AELP colleagues and members. We launched a mini policy manifesto at our national conference and work is continuing on the draft longer version. One of the biggest issues to address is employer ownership of skills funding and with the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) saying that a one size doesn t fit all approach isn t going to work, we have an opportunity to agree with employers a sensible way forward.

9 11.00am Meeting with AELP Director, Chris Swingler, on independent provider involvement in The Skills Show at both the NEC event in November and for the future. 1.00pm Arrive at the House of Commons to participate in an FE Week debate on Traineeships hosted by Gordon Marsden MP in one of the committee rooms. The room is packed. My remarks concentrate on Traineeships not just being viewed as a pre-apprenticeship programme: a cultural shift is required to view it in terms of job outcomes as well, which is fundamentally different from the qualification-focused outcomes of past programmes. We have got to make it attractive for small and medium-sized employers and be ready to reward good performing providers who submit contract growth requests. 3.00pm Sit down with John Hyde, Executive Chairman of HIT Training, to hear his views on the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), to which he has just been appointed as a Board Director. I agree with him that we need a different approach in comparison to the ETF s predecessor organisations. 4.30pm Get back to my desk to go through the draft Deregulation Bill and its possible impact on Apprenticeships. 5.30pm Start setting out my thoughts for another upcoming trip to the Commons to discuss local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) with an all-party group of MPs.

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