Please see below upcoming all member webinars to register for: Wednesday 24th May – National Apprenticeship Awards Topic: National Apprenticeship Awards 2023 We would like to invite you to join May’s Apprenticeship Ambassador training session. Please join us at May’s Apprenticeship Ambassador training session where we will be joined by Steve Jenkins and Chris Davies who will provide us with guidance on how to submit an Application to the NAA’s. The session will be a fantastic opportunity for apprentice and employer ambassadors to find out more on what to expect through the application process. Please register for this session Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYkdumtqD4uGNcoy4kPyglvc9EriPYuI1Ax After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. 5th June 2023 Topic: Disability Rights UK (DRUK) share tips to support ambassadors speaking to people with disabilities about apprenticeships and the adjustments that can be made. We would like to invite you to join the Apprenticeship Ambassador training session on 5th June. Please join us at to hear from Rabia, DRUK to share tips and examples to help ambassadors when talking about apprenticeships to individual with disabilities. We would like this session to provide information and help ambassador to consider how they could adjust their presentation or conversations, when required to ensure everyone in the audience can learn more about the benefits of apprenticeships. If you have any questions you would like answered during the session, please email Charlotte@amazingapprenticeships.com To register for the session, please follow the link below. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwudOGgrD8tG9U5zg4WMtipW0CpsrizEOzw After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Watch the launch of the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers 2023 We are delighted to inform you that this year’s Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers will be announced during a special live broadcast taking place at 2.00pm on Thursday 29th June. The 90-minute broadcast will include a full countdown of the 2023 rankings, insights into the characteristics of top employers, and interviews with representatives of those who have made it into the Top 100 and Top 50 SMEs this year. To watch the live broadcast – on your smart TV or laptop – simply register here: Apprenticeships Top 100 Employers 2023 (topapprenticeshipemployers.co.uk) Even if you have not entered the rankings, this is a great opportunity for any apprentice employer to hear insights that will help you to benchmark your offer against the best. You will take away a better understanding of what a high-quality apprenticeship programme looks like and what you need to do to enter in the future to be recognised as a top apprenticeship employer. In the meantime, employers tell us that if you are looking for support on improving the quality of apprenticeship programmes - Employing apprentice for your business: step by step is a good starting point for resources.

The Department for Education is pleased to announce that the seventeenth annual National Apprenticeship Week will take place from 5th to 11th February 2024. National Apprenticeship Week is an incredible and high-profile annual week-long celebration of apprenticeships, showcasing the impact and benefits of apprenticeships. It’s also about encouraging the country to champion how apprenticeships make businesses more productive, communities to become more vibrant, and career opportunities to be valued for their role in changing lives. National Apprenticeship Week is a flagship activity for the entire sector. Everyone has a part to play – from SMEs to levy payers, from public sector bodies to private sector businesses, from awarding bodies to Ambassador Networks and for training providers, schools, colleges, and universities. All can celebrate the outstanding work their apprentices have been involved in over the past year. Show your support and build the enthusiasm for National Apprenticeship Week 2024 by sharing the dates through your social media channels and start to plan your own amazing National Apprenticeship Week 2024 activity. National Apprenticeship Week 2023 was a hugely successful week. Highlights included: #NAW2023 trending in the UK on Twitter from Monday to Wednesday and over the week there were 24k mentions on Twitter of #NAW2023. Over 310 million #NAW2023 impressions across social media. First ever NAW Supporters Club launched with 11 key stakeholders. We are doing this again in 2024 (Contact the NAW mailbox to register your interest in joining). Over 1,300 events took place across the country to support the week, including engagement in schools and colleges led by the ASK programme and Amazing Apprenticeships. Over 630 school events engaging over 150k individuals. 8th Annual Big Assembly broadcast into schools & colleges viewed by a record 90k students & teachers. First ever ‘T Level Thursday’…Back in 2024! Over 350k views of the #NAW2023 launch videos. More information on National Apprenticeship Week 2024 will be announced on apprenticeships.gov.uk and via social media channels in due course. Sign up to the Newsletter mailing list here. Any questions – contact us at the.week@education.gov.uk Follow @Apprenticeships on Twitter & Apprenticeships on LinkedIn to stay updated. Thank you for helping apprenticeships to make a difference.

Guidance on how to use the apprenticeship service to access funds to pay for apprenticeship training. Read more HERE

The Department for Education (DfE) is investigating ways to deliver the Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF), building on the Strategic Development Fund. The LSIF is part of a long-term change programme, supporting investment in new facilities, provision, and teaching expertise to deliver on Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs). The Department for Education (DfE) will run an early market engagement event on 9th March 2023, 10.30am to 12:00pm via Microsoft Teams, for providers to feed into plans for LSIF roll out. General FE colleges, institutions which have been designated as being in the FE sector (SDIs) and FE colleges in their capacity as licensee of an Institute of Technology (IoT) are eligible to lead an LSIF application. Other providers are eligible to receive LSIF funding where they play an active role in the consortium. Independent Training Providers can receive LSIF funds for revenue activities and for capital equipment, but not for capital infrastructure projects. Providers interested in attending the event should register through the Jaggaer procurement portal and following the on-screen instructions - ‘view opportunities’ and then select: ‘6955_Local Skills Improvement Fund 2023-25’. Joining instructions will be issued following registration. If you cannot attend the event, information will be available on Jaggaer afterwards.

Applications are now open for Turing Scheme funding for the 2023 to 2024 academic year, until 4:00pm, 6 April 2023. The Turing Scheme is the UK government’s global programme to study and work abroad, with £110 million invested for this academic year. Participants can do study or work placements anywhere in the world, subject to FCDO travel advice. For this (2022 to 2023) academic year, the Turing Scheme is providing funding for over 38,000 UK pupils, learners, and students to study and work in over 160 destinations across the globe. Around 20,000 of these opportunities are for participants from disadvantaged backgrounds. Find out more and access our application portal.

Information on Flexi-Job Apprenticeships and how to make apprenticeships work in your sector. Flexi-Job Apprenticeships have been designed to ensure that those sectors and occupations where short-term contracts or other non-standard employment models are the norm can access the benefits of apprenticeships. Read the latest updates HERE

Entries are now open for the 2023 rankings in both the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers and the Top 50 SME Apprenticeship Employers. In 2022, Apprenticeship Ambassador Network members secured magnificent success and profile in both competitions. We also actively recruited new members as a result of employers gaining recognition in each category. As with last year, the scoring is data-driven and recognises employers for their commitment to creating new apprenticeships, the diversity of their new apprentices, and the number of apprentices who have successfully achieved their apprenticeships over the past 12 months. The entry form has been specifically designed to be simple and straightforward to complete. Further details are available on a dedicated website (below) and the deadline is Friday 24 March. https://topapprenticeshipemployers.co.uk/ The 2023 rankings will be announced during a special live broadcast in the Summer and employers featured in the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers and Top 50 SME Apprenticeship Employers will be invited to a celebration lunch at the House of Commons with the Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP. Indeed, the Apprenticeships and Skills Minister has recorded a special video message to encourage applications from Torquay to Carlisle, and from Norwich to Blackburn! You can find the recording here Let’s ensure that Ambassador members feature prominently again this year in both competitions! Good luck with your entries.

The DfE’s Unit for Future Skills has launched the first full version of the Local Skills dashboard, our hub for up-to-date information and data on local skills, education and employment. This release is a key part of the Unit’s vision to structure and improve access to the data by linking up data sets, mapping education, skills and jobs at local levels and providing tools that enable exploration of the data.

Herefordshire & Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce are thrilled to announce that the Chamber Business Awards 2023, sponsored by Herefordshire Council are now open for entries! The Chamber Business Awards are an annual celebration of the amazing businesses across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. More Details HERE

Worcestershire organisations are being invited to share their thoughts and feedback in the Local Skills Improvement Plans to help shape the skills and recruitment support available for businesses. Read more HERE

As part of the review of post-16 qualifications at level 2 and below, the Department intends to consider for funding level 2 qualifications designed to support progression to T levels; approved qualifications would be available for first teaching from 2026. These qualifications could be taken by young people as part of a broader T Level Transition Programme (TLTP), or by adults outside of a TLTP. The Department is seeking views on how the national content it has developed for the TLTP should be used in developing these qualifications. Full details about the proposals and how to provide feedback via the online questionnaire can be found online. The deadline for submitting responses is Thursday 6 April 2023.Information: National Standards development for Personal, Social and Employability qualifications (PSEQs). In October 2022 DfE published the government response to the consultation on post 16 qualifications at level 2 and below. This confirmed that DfE would set national standards which Personal, Social and Employability qualifications (PSEQs) at level 1 and entry level would need to be designed against in future. This will improve the quality of the offer and streamline the market. Work is now underway to create these national standards. DfE has assembled panels made up of education experts, employers, and representatives of student groups to produce an informed draft of the standards. They will collaborate to agree the proposed content of the standards to ensure they meet the needs of students and employers. This month sees the first meeting of the two expert panels (Independent Living and Employability) take place. Panel members will establish the starting point for standards development and expected outcomes. Further public consultation will take place once the national standards have been developed. If you would like more information, please email us at pseq.standards@education.gov.uk.

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has published its latest revisions standards report. The revisions status report: shows apprenticeships that are being revised provides a brief overview of the revisions planned for each apprenticeship states the stage that each revision has reached. Read the report on the IfATE website.

Entries now open for the Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers and Top 50 SME Apprenticeship Employers 2023 Produced by the Department for Education, the prestigious annual rankings recognise England’s outstanding employers for their commitment to creating new apprenticeships, the diversity of their apprentices, and the number of apprentices who successfully achieve their apprenticeships. Last year, significant numbers of AAN members featured prominently in both competitions; showing incredible leadership and impressive apprenticeship accomplishments. Entries for the 2023 rankings are free-of-charge and the entry form has been specifically designed to be simple and straightforward for employers to complete. More details about this year’s rankings, how to prepare your entry, and the minimum entry requirements are available on the official entry website: http://topapprenticeshipemployers.co.uk The deadline for sending your entry is 5pm on Friday 24th March. The new 2023 rankings will be announced during a special live broadcast in the summer – and will be followed by an event at the House of Commons in September with the Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP, celebrating the country’s leading employers of apprentices. Good luck!

The Worcestershire Apprenticeships hub celebrated their 8th annual awards on Thursday 17 November to recognise the exemplar efforts of all those involved in delivering and supporting apprenticeships in the county. Over 300 attendees attended the 2022 Worcestershire Apprenticeships Awards, which returned to a physical awards evening after going virtual in light of the COVID pandemic. 11 winners were crowned, with the highly coveted Worcestershire Apprentice of the year named as Georgina Davies from Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust, sponsored by Platform Housing Group, and Worcestershire Apprenticeship Employer of the Year announced as Redspeed International, sponsored by Heart of Worcestershire College. Attendees had an entertaining and engaging evening thanks to the awards host, media entrepreneur, podcaster, writer and performer, Cally Beaton. The full list of winners from the 2022 Worcestershire Apprenticeships Awards can be found below School of the Year – sponsored by Worcestershire Children’s First • Hanley Castle Training Provider of the Year – sponsored by Sanctuary • The Development Manager (TDM) Apprenticeship Champion of the Year – sponsored by West Midlands Apprenticeship Ambassador Network • Ian Walker – Herefordshire and Worcestershire Group Training Association Intermediate Level Apprentice of the Year – sponsored by Yamazaki Mazak UK Ltd • Emily Tidmarsh – Sanctuary Group Advanced Level Apprentice of the Year – sponsored by University of Worcester • Anja Seymour – Cotswold Garden Flowers Higher Level Apprentice of the Year – sponsored by Worcester Bosch • Georgina Davies – Worcestershire Acute Hospital Trust Small Apprenticeship Employer of the Year – sponsored by The Development Manager • Redspeed International Medium Apprenticeship Employer of the Year – sponsored by Herefordshire and Worcestershire Chamber of Commerce • Altaras International Large Apprenticeship Employer of the Year – sponsored by Faun Zoeller (UK) Limited • Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust Worcestershire Apprenticeship Employer of the Year – sponsored by Heart of Worcestershire College • Redspeed International Worcestershire Apprentice of the Year – sponsored by Platform Housing Group • Georgina Davies – Worcestershire Acute Hospital Trust

Our next AAN annual conference is being held on Tuesday 28 March 2023 in London. We have secured the prestigious Mansion House – and the Skills and Apprenticeships Minister Robert Halfon has already agreed to attend and speak. He is particularly keen to meet and talk to as many Employer and Apprentice Ambassadors as possible. The conference will be an ‘in-person’ event only so please book this time out in your calendars now. Further details will follow shortly.

As part of the joint DfE and Ofqual review of the Sector Subject Area (SSA) classification system, we are publishing a call for evidence. The SSA system is used to categorise qualifications, assign programme weightings, and analyse and monitor provision. We are seeking your views on how you use the system, what you use it for and the classification of subjects and sectors within it. We want to know more about what is working and whether you think there are improvements we can make so the system works better. This call for evidence explains the system and invites views and evidence from interested parties on how we can make improvements. You can access the call for evidence on GOV.UK. The CFE will be open until Friday 3 February, if you have any queries or questions please contact SSAC.CallforEvidence@education.gov.uk.

Skills Minister Robert Halfon has published a Ministerial Statement on Traineeships. This confirms that the Government has decided to integrate the Traineeship programme into the 16-19 study programme and adult education provision from 1 August 2023. Integrating Traineeships into general provision means the Department for Education will no longer fund the delivery of Traineeships through a standalone national programme.

DfE asked Prof. Sir John Holman to set out a series of recommendations to improve the careers guidance system for young people and adults in England. Prof. Holman spent 18 months talking to stakeholders as part of his remit as an Independent Strategic Adviser on Careers Guidance; his recommendations can be read here The response from Robert Halfon can be read here

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has appeared in front of an Education Select Committee ‘Accountability hearing’. She talked about the wide spectrum of her portfolio priorities and touched upon apprenticeships and careers advice from Questions 296 onwards. The full transcript can be read here