Last week to apply for cash in return for help in NEET survey

Cash incentives are being offered to learning and skills providers who can help in a research project into why a record number of young people and adults are outside of education, employment or training (NEETs). A sample group of the one million NEETs in England will be interviewed as part of the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS) research in a bid to find out their aspirations and help them back in to training and education. View More >

On demand software training company bought by compliance specialist

Training company Cobent Limited has been bought by software as a service (SaaS) compliance specialist Access Intelligence PLC. Cobent was acquired for £5.2m comprised of shares in Access Intelligence and £3m in cash. View More >

New academic centre to boost employees’ performance at work launches this month

City University London is set to launch a new interdisciplinary Centre for Performance at Work, in recognition of the billions of pounds that organisations spend every year to recruit, develop and retain staff. The centre hopes to work with businesses to shape new thinking and develop evidence-based solutions on leadership, performance, well being at work and talent management. View More >

Pioneering Welfare to Work programme praised by learners and politicians

Learners and politicians have praised a new concept in Welfare to Work training launched in the London borough of Croydon this month by charity Careers Development Group (CDG). CDG uses dedicated training rooms with high-tech visual learning aids including smart boards, a bank of internet connected laptops for job searching and access to high quality training provision in an effort to integrate training with employment. View More >

Workers resigning through the recession despite difficult job market

More people resigned from their jobs in the past year compared to the previous 12 months despite the recession and tight job market. The Chartered Management Institute (CMI), which collected the figures for its National Management Salary Survey, says that “questions must be asked” about employee engagement levels in organisations nationwide as a result. View More >

Employers urged to take part in national skills survey

Employers can air their views on the state of the UK’s skills system by taking part in a national survey that closes at the end of this month. The Education and Skills Survey is sponsored in part by business lobbying organisation the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which says it will place the results of the research directly before the government. View More >

Peter Honey sells his training business for £1.25m

Peter Honey Publications (PHP), best known for its Honey & Mumford Learning Styles Questionnaire, has been bought by Coventry qualifications firm Education Development International (EDI) for £1.25m. Maidenhead-based PHP’s business operations will be moved to EDI's head office in Coventry over the next four months. View More >

Government defends its flagship training initiative

The government has defended its flagship adult training scheme, Train to Gain, saying it has helped businesses develop staff during the downturn, despite a Commons Public Accounts Committee criticising the scheme for wasting money. According to a study carried out by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) 80 per cent of employers who used the initiative said they were likely to recommend it to other employers as well as using it again themselves. View More >

UK organisations waste almost £10bn a year on poor training

UK organisations are wasting almost £10bn on ineffective training each year, according to research. The striking figure is the result of a study by KnowledgePool, a managed learning organisation, which found a quarter of all training fails to yield a significant performance improvement. View More >

E-learning company boss set to scale highest mountain in the world

The head of a Yorkshire training company is swapping his office shoes for climbing boots to scale the peak of Kilimanjaro later this month. Simon Hayhurst, who is the director of adult learning provider IB2K Ltd, will along with his father climb the world’s highest free-standing mountain in aid of Yorkshire Cancer Research. View More >

Developing middle managers tops L&D priority list for 2010, says new survey

Organisations are pouring their resources into employees with the potential to lead them into an uncertain future, says a new survey released yesterday (Tuesday). Rather than abandon learning and development in the face of the recession, organisations are looking to the long-term and making developing middle managers’ leadership and change-management skills a priority. View More >

Young people seeking training and education leads to surprising drop in unemployment figures

A surprising fall in UK unemployment figures has been attributed to increasing numbers of young people turning to training and education to avoid the dole. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) says the latest figure of 2.46m jobless for the three months to November, which is down 7,000 on the figure for the previous three months, is due to swelling numbers of what are considered economically inactive students. View More >

'Alan Sugar test' created to spot entrepreneurs

A test that claims it can identify the next generation of entrepreneurs has been devised by a London University academic. The 'Alan Sugar test', as it has been dubbed, also claims to spot students who are more likely to start their own business or show a flair for enterprise. View More >

Charity recognized for its outstanding people development

ETEC Development Trust, a Sunderland-based charity, has been recognized for its commitment to training and development. ETEC gained the Investors in People (IIP) Gold Standard following a series of interviews by assessors with staff and managers that highlighted its strong L&D culture. View More >

Further training company mergers as e-learning organisations join

London-based e-learning organisations Ivy Learning Services and Stroud’s Learning&Safety4Business will amalgamate and be known as Learning Nexus from next week. The organisations say the move is in response to the demands and challenges of the learning and development landscape. View More >

Calls for government to hold adverse weather conference as UK risks grinding to a halt in the snow

As fresh snow causes more problems for transport across the UK today the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is calling on the government to hold a national conference to review its contingency planning. Following weeks of bad weather which is estimated to have cost the economy at least £600m a day the FSB wants to see discussion take place between local authorities, transport and salt mining companies, schools and the business community, to find solutions to deal with adverse weather. View More >

L&D companies WWP and Key Training Solutions join forces

WWP and Key Training Solutions have joined forces to provide private and public sector training programmes nationwide. The companies that have been established for more than a quarter of a century have training centres across the UK and can now offer a range of learning and development programmes including management courses recognised by the Institute of Leadership and Management and government funded training. View More >

Training entrepreneur awarded OBE in New Year Honours list

A training manager who went on to become one of the UK’s most successful female entrepreneurs has been named in the New Year Honours list. Janette Faherty, the CEO of one of the UK’s largest welfare to work training providers, has been awarded the OBE for services to unemployed people and entrepreneurship. View More >

International e-learning company signs strategic agreement with global collaborative software provider

E-learning company Edvantage has entered in to a strategic partnership with Saba, a global provider of people management and collaboration software. Edvantage, which provide over 10,000 online training courses, will now offer Saba’s online learning software to its customers in a bid to enhance e-learning across formal and informal learning environments. View More >

Workers warned to limit travel as snow sets in across UK

The government Highways Agency is advising workers to consider whether their journeys are essential before travelling, as continuing snow and freezing temperatures are forecast for many parts of the country. It says L&D professionals who must drive today should be prepared with warm clothing and an emergency pack, which includes food and water, boots, de-icer, a torch, and a shovel. View More >

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The training industry News

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• Training charity celebrates 25 years of service to the community
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Latest News

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• Last week to apply for cash in return for help in NEET survey