15 October 2004
Officials at the Department for Education and Skills have become embroiled in a row over the funding of apprenticeships for the over-25s.
EEF, the manufacturers' organisation, claims that civil servants at the DfES are backtracking on plans for publicly funded apprenticeships, originally announced by Education Secretary Charles Clarke last year.
According to the EEF, the government has failed to deliver any funding for the training of the over-25s, although a rise in apprenticeships was the second of ten key pledges made by Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Labour Party conference last month.
EEF director of education and skills Ian Peters said the government had 'very positive rhetoric' on the issue but had not delivered in terms of financial backing.
He said: 'What the government has so far failed to do is to put in the necessary funding. The policy on apprenticeships remains no more than an aspiration. We need to attract more individuals into apprenticeships and to encourage more businesses to offer them.'
According to sources at the DfES, the row is more about the level of funding. One told Public Finance: 'We are in discussion with a number of interested parties on this issue. We are looking at a number of options for funding. No decisions can be made until a meeting between all the parties has taken place.'
This meeting, which will take place shortly, will discuss the funding of adult apprenticeships, but is unlikely to resolve the disagreement.
The EEF believes a two-year training apprenticeship would cost £7,000 per trainee in direct training costs, which would be funded by the government, and backed by employers who would pay wages and support costs. The EEF says these are about twice the cost of the training bill.
However, government sources said that the 'figures are not acceptable'. One told Public Finance: 'This is a big issue but the Learning and Skills Council suggests a figure of £3,000 per apprentice.'
Figures from the LSC show about 255,000 apprentices in British industry. But finishing the courses is a problem – only 46% of the 117,000 due to complete their course in April did so.
MoD staff fight to keep their cuppa free
Staff at the Ministry of Defence are being forced to log the number of teas and coffees they drink in meetings in the latest attempt at cost-cutting.
But officials have defended their attempts to cut out free tea and biscuits during meetings, saying the move was 'essentially ensuring that taxpayers' money is used in the most efficient way'.
Now civil servants in the department will get free tea and coffee at the Whitehall offices only if their meeting lasts longer than two hours.
An MoD memo says all teas and coffees must be logged and will then be charged to the unit using the conference room. The relevant instruction is Rule JSP 462, Part 5, Chapter 1, Annex A, on providing a £1.10 tea, including biscuits.
A senior source said this week: 'Officers who've led their men into battle are being treated like kids. We wondered if it was a joke.'
However, an MoD source said: 'No, this is not a joke. It is merely an attempt to make sure people understand that cost-cutting is across the board and that also applies to refreshments.'
Jobs cut as Northern Ireland looks for savings
Northern Ireland's civil service is to be cut by 15%, its finance minister Ian Pearson has announced, as it implements efficiency savings recommended by Sir Peter Gershon's review.
Some 2,300 jobs will go through efficiency improvements: 2,600 staff will transfer out of the civil service through the creation of the Water Service Go Co (government company) and the Agri-Food & Bio-sciences Institute; while a further 1,000 staff will be moved from back-office to front-office duties.
Announcing his draft budget for the period 2005–2008, Pearson said that spending on public services in Northern Ireland will have increased by 20% in real terms between 2002 and 2008.
The biggest winners from the latest cash allocations will be health, training, social development and business promotion in a budget that increases total spending from £6.2bn last year to £6.9bn this year and £7.2bn in 2005/06.
The budget is backed by a new 'economic vision report' and an investment strategy, which aim to make Northern Ireland one of the most competitive regions in the UK.
Public sector investment is programmed to rise from £900m this year to £1.2bn in each of the next three years.
But Northern Ireland's main public sector union, NIPSA, responded to the job cuts with the threat of industrial action.
General secretary John Corey said: 'The minister's promise of only 1,000 extra jobs for front-line staff in health and education must be balanced against the net loss of up to 3,300 jobs from the civil service. This can only mean cuts in existing public services.'
PFoct2004
