New House of Lords report supports APHC apprenticeships findings Published:  19 April, 2016 A new report by the House of Lords social mobility committee says that young people who do not study for A-levels or degrees are “overlooked and left behind”. The research, which indicates that young people are let down by over emphasis on higher education and a lack of training options, supports recent findings by APHC which reveal that the majority of people believe that apprenticeships should be encouraged as an alternative to attending university. The Lords report argues that there is a strong focus on numbers entering university, despite the fact that the majority of young people choose not to continue their academic studies after the age of 16. In England in 2013-14, a total population of 1,285,800 16 and 17 year olds, only 47% (601,500 people) started A-levels, whereas 53% (684,300 people) did not. APHC’s research reflects this need for schools to promote careers in trades alongside university, with 86% of people agreeing that school leavers should be encouraged to consider an apprenticeship as an alternative to higher education and only 2% disagreeing. Malcolm Trobe, leader of the ASCL Head Teacher’s Union said: “The intense academic focus of the existing curriculum is too narrow for some students and a new approach is needed. Careers advice and education are being delivered in a way which means that too many young people simply drift into further studies or their first job, which too often has no real prospect of progression.” Another important point highlighted by the report is that young people can become disheartened by the heavy focus on academic results in schools, especially those who are middle-ability achievers, something which in turn can have an impact on social mobility. This aligns with APHC’s findings, in which 19% of respondents acknowledged that higher education is not suited to everyone, with other perceived benefits including a better chance of getting a job, the opportunity to gain a broader experience of life within the workplace and the chance to learn a useful skill. John Thompson, chief executive at APHC said: “We welcome this new report from the House of Lords, which supports our recent findings about attitudes towards careers in trades in England and Wales. We hope that government will take heed of this information by making it a priority to promote apprenticeships as an alternative to higher education in our schools.” Source link

Boiler manufacturer urges Chancellor to remember that ‘simplicity is key’ ahead of budget announcement Published:  15 April, 2016 Worcester, Bosch Group has called for the Chancellor to ensure that any schemes introduced to improve domestic energy efficiency as part of this week’s budget are as simple as possible for the nation’s homeowners to access. Neil Schofield, head of external affairs at Worcester, Bosch Group, has welcomed industry bodies’ calls for a national boiler replacement scheme, but believes it is vital that bureaucracy is kept to a bare minimum for any scheme to have a desired impact.  “The reason why we’ve seen a boiler scrappage scheme work so effectively in the past is because it is a simple and very tangible offer of cash for the homeowner in return for them upgrading their old boiler. There is no need for red tape, no extra qualifications or accreditation requirements of the installer and products, and no need to restrict it to the fuel poor only,” he explained. “Simplicity is the key to ensuring homeowners take action in reducing their emissions – something Boris Johnson has led the way on of late through the London Boiler Cashback Scheme. “A scrappage scheme not only offers the desired overall benefit of lowering carbon emissions, but is also likely to rid the country of non-condensing boilers and prompt the upgrading of controls which in turn allows for lower fuel bills.” Mr Schofield also believes the Chancellor has an opportunity to extend the scrappage concept to other easily-upgraded technologies to make an even bigger dent in the nation’s emissions targets. “If we do see the reintroduction of a boiler scrappage scheme, why not extend its remit even further to cover hot water storage cylinders too? Poorly or non-insulated hot water storage cylinders go hand in hand with energy wastage in domestic properties, so a large-scale overhaul is sure to have a direct impact on fuel efficiency. “By prompting homeowners to have boilers and cylinders front-of-mind through the introduction of a simple-to-access scrappage incentive, we might just be able to cut the number of fuel poor British homes. Boris has got the right idea – why don’t the rest follow suit?” Image courtesy of Shutterstock/kenary820 Source link

The Willingdon Trees community centre and its members are expected to receive a funding boost from Network Rail. The rail company will be giving the community centre and its member £10,000 in funding for the centre. It is thought that the money will be used to give the community centre a ‘facelift’ and allow for a social club that will be able to offer free activities for the young people and the families that live in the surrounding area. The work to the outside of the community centre is desperately needed and was given to Willingdon Trees because of a vote. There was a public vote in order to choose between three different schemes for Network Rail’s funding. This funding opportunity is a part of a pilot project that is being run by Network Rail in order to ensure the company is working closely with the neighbours and communities that are based alongside the railway. Network Rail has recently had to close the level crossing at Willingdon Trees as there were concerns raised that is was being misused by the young people in the area. Therefore, Network Rail included the area in the vote for the funding. Now that they have won, The Willingdon Trees community centre will be able to support the local community as well as further reduce the safety risks caused by young people in the area by opening a place with free activities available for them. The funding has allowed the community to carry out some much needed work at the community centre as well as allowing it to be a vital asset for the Willingdon community in order to offer activities for the both young people and families in the area. Network Rail are working on upgrading British Railways as a part of their Railway Upgrade Plan. At the moment the railways around Britain are undergoing the largest sustained programme of works in order to upgrade the rail system since the Victorian era.

The International Safety Awards will be held on the 5th of May 2017. The Gala dinner event will be held at the Grosvenor House in London. There will be two individual awards handed out by the British Safety council for the fifth year running. These special awards will be given for the Health and Safety Champion of the Year and for the Young Health and Safety Champion of the Year. The awards are given out in order to celebrate the work of non-health and safety professionals that have played important roles in order to keep their colleagues safe while at work. The awards will be given to recognise exceptional performance of individuals that have played a part on the health and safety practices in their workplace. The two awards are the Health and Safety Champion of the Year Award in which organisations are able to nominate employees that are aged 25 and over; and the Young Health and Safety Champion of the Year Award which will be awarded to and employee who is aged between 16 at 24. This year it is thought that 136 different organisations have nominated individual employees for these two awards. The applicants for the awards are from a variety of different industries as well as originating from a wide range of companies. Applications were made from organisations in the United Kingdom, Africa and Asia as well as the Middle East and the West Indies. There has been a shortlist for the awards released. The Health and Safety Champion Award Shortlist includes: Colin Nivison from Glaxosmithkline Services Unlimited, Project Engineering Management; Innes Alexander from Mace International Qatar; Kenny Maddock, BAE Systems Naval Ships; Kieren McCafferty, Walker Construction in Kent; Andrew Kettrick, Bachy Soletanche Ltd and Stephen Wilkinson from Addison Lee in London. The Shortlist for the Young Health and Safety Champion consists of: Ben Ealey-Newman, from Cobham Antenna Systems; Ravi Kumar Sharma, L&T Construction; Shri Ajay Kumar Behara, Indian Oil Corporation Limited; Sophie Harwood from Waldeck Consulting; Tom Arkley, Wilmott Dixon Interiors Ltd and Venkatesh Kannan A, from Larson and Toubro Limited.