Post by jonksy on Apr 3, 2023 6:08:50 GMT
Apprenticeship money for lawyers, engineers and MBA’s what a joke in 5 years AI will be doing all of these jobs. Recently AI passed the bar exam. Maybe start giving apprenticeship money for people learning skilled trades and nursing etc. instead of giving millions of pounds to your Tory Eton chums.
Government U-turns on crackdown to stop repeat of £100m apprenticeship rip-off
Exclusive: Apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon previously described use of taxpayer funds for university courses for top earners as ‘gaming the system’
£100m of public money had been used to part-fund MBA courses between 2017 and 2022
The government has backtracked on its pledge to crack down on the use of taxpayers’ money to fund university courses for high-flyers earning six-figure salaries, despite the minister in charge previously describing it as “gaming the system”.
Last month, Robert Halfon, the minister for skills and apprenticeships, promised to “take appropriate action if there is evidence that the levy is being spent on ineligible courses, such as to fund an MBA”.
His vow followed an investigation by The Independent into misuse of the apprenticeship levy, which revealed that £1bn of public money had been used to fund masters courses, with £100m of that going specifically to part-fund MBAs, between 2017 and 2022.
But in follow-up emails, the Department for Education performed a sharp U-turn, saying that the levy can be used to part-fund MBAs “because of overlap with the senior leader apprentice standard”, and stating that there would be no further investigation.
Now, The Independent can reveal that in 2020, when Mr Halfon was chair of the education select committee, he called on the apprenticeships minister at the time, Michelle Donelan, to put a stop to the “gaming of the levy system” that he said had led to “more than £100 million of apprenticeship levy funds [being] spent on masters degrees for managers”.
Last month, Robert Halfon, the minister for skills and apprenticeships, promised to “take appropriate action if there is evidence that the levy is being spent on ineligible courses, such as to fund an MBA”.
His vow followed an investigation by The Independent into misuse of the apprenticeship levy, which revealed that £1bn of public money had been used to fund masters courses, with £100m of that going specifically to part-fund MBAs, between 2017 and 2022.
But in follow-up emails, the Department for Education performed a sharp U-turn, saying that the levy can be used to part-fund MBAs “because of overlap with the senior leader apprentice standard”, and stating that there would be no further investigation.
Now, The Independent can reveal that in 2020, when Mr Halfon was chair of the education select committee, he called on the apprenticeships minister at the time, Michelle Donelan, to put a stop to the “gaming of the levy system” that he said had led to “more than £100 million of apprenticeship levy funds [being] spent on masters degrees for managers”.