by Clair Mooney | Dec 15, 2020 | Main News Feed
On Wednesday, 9 December Education Secretary Gavin Williamson MP, announced the first major details of the Lifetime Skills Guarantee.
The Lifetime Skills Guarantee was originally announced by the Prime Minister in September and provides fully funded qualifications to adults without a full qualification at level 3.
Almost 400 level 3 qualifications, including for the finishes and interiors sector; Decorative Finishing – Painting and Decorating, Bathroom Installation Skills, Kitchen Installation Skills, Interior Systems Ceiling Fixing, Plastering, Wall and Floor Tiling, Testing, Inspecting and thorough Examination Occupations – Installing Construction Anchors and Site Testing of Construction Fixings, Occupational Work Supervision, Wood Occupations – Site Carpentry, Bench and Architectural Joinery and Design, Engineer, Construct The Digital Built Environment, will be available free to eligible adult learners in England from April 2021. The qualifications will enable tens of thousands of adults to get the skills they need to improve their career prospects and progress in employment. The courses are backed by £95 million of funding from the £2.5 billion National Skills Fund.
This commitment by the Government to inject funding into tertiary education to ensure the country can bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic is great news for the construction industry. Construction is one of the sectors that will benefit most from the Lifetime Skills Guarantee and the courses that will receive funding cover a wide range of trades.
Given the potential impact of the pandemic on apprenticeship provision across construction, this new support will help young people to continue to progress their learning in FE. The challenge will be to ensure that learners on FE courses are work ready to enter industry.
by Clair Mooney | Dec 15, 2020 | Main News Feed
The Scottish government has issued a new Procurement Note – 10/2020 – “Measuring social impact in public procurement”. The policy note serves to clarify the Scottish Government’s policy on measuring social impact through procurement and support for application of this policy in the form of the sustainable procurement duty tools and accompanying guides.
Key Points
- the Scottish Government does not endorse monetary gauges to measure social impact in procurement as part of the procurement process;
- social impact is not fixed or easily transferable. Impact arises from the interaction between supply and demand, and therefore will be specific to the individual, community, and place. Public bodies must engage with communities who have an interest in the contract to get the best possible outcome;
- care should be taken to ensure that impact measurements do not create a barrier to businesses;
- success in contributing to Scotland’s purpose is measured in terms of outcomes. These outcomes align to the National Performance Framework and the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and
- this approach complements procurement principles of relevance and proportionality and Scottish legislation to rule out price only or cost only as the sole award criteria for public contracts.
More information is available at – Measuring social impact in public procurement: SPPN 10/2020 – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
by Clair Mooney | Dec 11, 2020 | Main News Feed
Planned to take place from 27-29 January, the aim is to replicate a physical careers fair, virtually. You can visit a wide range of organisations and get advice and support to manage careers and how to take first steps towards them.
The National Careers Service is inviting organisations to take part, and each organisation will have its own ‘stall’. You can choose what to present and how to engage with the audience. Suggestions include:
- Live Q&As
- ‘Day in the life’ streams
- A virtual or live stream tour of your organisation
- A top tips, Frequently Asked Questions webinar
The event will run over three days:
- Wednesday 27 January – For national organisations with opportunities for people across the country.
- Thursday 28 January – For organisations with a more regional audience.
- Friday 29 January – A virtual jobs fair during which regional teams will promote local vacancies and learning opportunities.
If you would like to get involved, please email national.careersservice@education.gov.uk by midday 18 December. The National Careers Service will then give you further details and support. They may need to operate on a first come first served basis, so please register your interest as soon as you can!
by Clair Mooney | Dec 11, 2020 | Main News Feed
To help reduce the transmission of coronavirus on construction sites, Build UK has partnered with Eurofins to offer a comprehensive
COVID‐19 testing service. Testing is most effective when undertaken in line with a regular schedule; however, it does not replace the need for social distancing or compliance with the Site Operating Procedures. Eurofins is offering both Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Lateral Flow testing on site at exclusive prices for Build UK members and, to discuss your requirements, please
contact Eurofins.
by Clair Mooney | Dec 11, 2020 | Main News Feed
Business owners affected by the pandemic will be protected from eviction until the end of March 2021. This final extension to protections from the threat of eviction will give landlords and tenants three months to come to an agreement on unpaid rent. Further guidance to support negotiations between landlords and tenants will also be published shortly. A review of commercial landlord and tenant legislation has also been announced, to address concerns that the current framework does not reflect the current economic conditions. More information is available
here.
by Clair Mooney | Dec 11, 2020 | Main News Feed
Temporary relaxation of the enforcement of the drivers’ hours rules: delivery of essential items to retailers
In response to pressures on local and national supply chains, the Department for Transport has introduced a temporary and limited urgent relaxation of the enforcement of EU drivers’ hours rules in England, Scotland and Wales. This temporary relaxation will apply from 12:01am on 10 December 2020 and will run until 11:59pm on 30 December 2020.
Find out about who the relaxation applies to and information on using the relaxation here.
