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This review looks at the framework for determining employment status and provides a snapshot of the UK labour market in 2015. In order to gain a greater understanding of some of the issues being faced, officials were asked to consider what the UK labour market looks like and suggest ways in which government could deliver a framework that strikes the correct balance between the rights of the individual and the needs of business, supporting growth and prosperity in the 21st century. The review involved discussions with a number of stakeholders and this report represents the findings of that review.

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The national strategy for access and student success in higher education has been developed at the request of the UK Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Minister for Universities and Science. The vision of this national strategy is: that all those with the potential to benefit from higher education have equal opportunity to participate and succeed, on a course and in an institution that best fit their potential, needs and ambitions for employment or further study. This final report to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills sets out what the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) will do to carry out the strategy.

Part one summarises the vision, overall approach and key actions that are proposed across the three broad stages of the student lifecycle: (1) access - preparing for and entering higher education; (2) retention and student success - staying on and achieving a qualification; and (3) progression to further study or to/within employment. Part two describes the strategy in detail and the evidence that it is based on. It brings together new and existing research on access and student success, including evidence gathered through commissioned research, a call for evidence and discussions with a wide range of stakeholders. The first three chapters discuss issues, evidence, and recommendations relating to the three broad stages of the student lifecycle. The concluding chapter describes in detail the proposed implementation of the strategy and outlines the types of indicators that will be developed to measure progress against the priorities it identifies.

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Higher education in the United Kingdom (UK) is a successful public-private partnership of government funding and institutional autonomy. This White Paper sets out the government's reforms for higher education with a view to tackling three challenges. The first is to shift public spending away from teaching grants and towards repayable tuition loans, to ensure that higher education receives the funding it needs even as substantial savings are made to public expenditure. The second is to ensure that higher education institutions (HEIs) deliver a better student experience; improving teaching, assessment, feedback and preparation for the world of work. The third challenge is to ensure that HEIs take more responsibility for increasing social mobility. The reforms are designed to deliver a more responsive higher education sector in which funding follows the decisions of learners and successful institutions are freed to thrive; in which there is a new focus on the student experience and the quality of teaching and in which further education colleges and other alternative providers are encouraged to offer a diverse range of higher education provision. The overall goal is higher education that is more responsive to student choice, that provides a better student experience and that helps improve social mobility.

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The UK government has published this consultation in response to the ‘Richard review of apprenticeships’, published in November 2012. It sets out the government’s long term vision for apprenticeships, together with proposals for achieving this. The review looked at how apprenticeships in England can meet the needs of the changing economy. This government response accepts the review’s assessment of the challenges and opportunities to come and endorses its recommendations for reform, in particular to: place control of apprenticeships more firmly in the hands of employers; and ensure that all apprenticeships are rigorous and responsive to employers’ needs. The government’s response also launches a consultation on the practical steps needed to turn this vision into reality. The government invites contributions from those interested in the future of apprenticeships by 22 May 2013. These will be considered and used to inform the government’s future approach and implementation plan in 2013.

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[This paper] draws on recent surveys of part-time students and their employers in the UK in order to investigate the extent and nature of employer support for part-time higher education study. [It] looks at the perceived advantages and disadvantages of this kind of study for the organisation concerned.

Published summary from BIS website with additions. Show less

This document describes the next generation careers advice service that will be launched in England in August 2010. It will supersede the current Careers Advice Service telephone service (formerly learndirect advice) and local nextstep face to face services, by creating a single, national service available online, by telephone, or face to face. It will provide access to better information about the labour market and new tools to help adults plan their career development; a new professional development framework for careers advisers; and a new brand to raise the service's appeal to the public.

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In response to UK government reports that only six per cent of people with learning difficulties are currently in employment, a taskforce was formed to examine the accessibility of apprenticeships for people with learning disabilities. The aim is to see training opportunities and apprenticeships made more accessible so that young people with learning disabilities are more easily able to enter the workforce. Working with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Education (DfE) the task force aimed to create three million apprenticeships by 2020 and halve the disability gap. The taskforce, led by Paul Maynard and including employers, training providers, charities and educational experts, met three times throughout May and June: once to identify issues, then to explore solutions and finally to form recommendations to make to ministers.

These two documents contain the recommendations of the taskforce and the response from the government response through BIS and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Show less

[This report] explains the benefits for business investment in leadership and management skills. [It is] based on evidence about current practice and the UK's position relative to key competitor nations.

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Objective 4 of the UK's National Cyber Security Strategy is for the UK to have the cross-cutting knowledge, skills and capability it needs to deliver the wider strategy. Through the National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP) the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS), Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the Cabinet Office have partnered to lead and support activity to increase cyber security skills at all levels of education, and amongst the cyber security workforce over the past two and a half years. This work has been taken forward in close collaboration with business and the education and skills sectors.

To build on this foundation and to continue to take account of the changing cyber security landscape as well as the evolving needs of businesses, BIS engaged with a range of businesses to discuss their cyber security skills needs through a questionnaire and series of workshops. This report sets out the key findings and summarises government plans for cyber security skills activities in the coming year, informed by the suggestions of businesses who participated in the exercise.

Edited excerpts from publication.

The companion 'supporting evidence' document provides the outputs from the questionnaire and feedback from the workshop sessions. It also sets out the government's view on the suggestions put forward by businesses for future actions to strengthen the UK's cyber security skills. Show less

This business case sets out the rationale for creating a new non-departmental public body and assesses the estimated costs and benefits. Estimates are taken from the impact assessment for the Higher Education and Research Bill, which sets out detail on underlying assumptions. The white paper 'Success as a knowledge economy: teaching excellence, social mobility and student choice' sets out plans for the creation of the Office for Students (OfS). This new public body will be a new market regulator in place of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Office for Fair Access (OFFA).

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