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Updated 17 August 2017 8.30am.
Transport Minister John Hayes met with apprentices at Heathrow Employment & Skills Academy to mark A-level results day and to discuss the rewards of choosing a transport apprenticeship.
The minister met apprentices employed at the Heathrow Academy to find out about their work and what inspired them to choose apprenticeships.
Today (Thursday 17 August 2017) is A level results day, and young adults across the country will be considering the next steps in their careers. Apprentices at Heathrow Employment & Skills Academy highlighted the benefits of choosing an apprenticeship, such as on-the-job training, the opportunity to earn while you learn and the flexibility of tailoring qualifications to individual needs.
The Heathrow Employment & Skills Academy supports Heathrow-based employers as they recruit, train and develop candidates through apprenticeship schemes in aviation, business administration, engineering, ground handling, logistics and construction and other sectors.
Transport Minister John Hayes said:
What could be more exciting than playing a part in building Britain’s future? That is the golden opportunity for young people who make a career in transport their choice.
To meet apprentices who share that excitement and are enthusiastic about the skills they are gaining, is an inspiration.
Up to 35,000 apprenticeship opportunities are set to be created in road and rail in the next 5 years, and the proposed expansion of Heathrow has potential to create a further 10,000 apprenticeships across the country. Each apprenticeship will change lives and nourish life chances.
Today’s apprentices will build tomorrow’s vital transport infrastructure and I urge still more people to consider embarking on such exciting and rewarding careers.
Karima Khandker, Head of Heathrow Academy, said:
As the UK’s largest single site employer – with more than 76,500 people directly employed – apprentices are a critical part of Heathrow’s talent pipeline, bringing fresh ideas and innovative ways of working to ensure that the airport runs smoothly.
Our role at the Heathrow Employment & Skills Academy is to welcome and encourage local talent to join the airport and to provide them with the support they need to build long-term careers, not just a job.
This year, we have pledged a record-breaking 516 apprenticeships, sending a clear message that there is a place for everyone at the airport.
Explaining the rewards of an apprenticeship, Rachel said:
When leaving school I was never certain of what I wanted to do. I was driven to succeed and ready to work hard for it, but I just couldn’t find the right career path. I worked in various jobs but none of them really allowed me to build a career.
Two years ago I began working with the Heathrow Employment and Skills Academy and have now completed my Level 3 Management Apprenticeship. The on the job qualification was tailored to my role so I was able to utilise my skills straight away. I quickly felt a real sense of achievement and career direction. I’m now looking forward to receiving my certificate in November and continuing to develop my career with the airport.
The cross-industry Strategic Transport Apprenticeship Taskforce, set up in 2016, will create more apprenticeships, improve diversity of the sector and promote transport careers. More than 2,000 new apprenticeships have already been created in the first year of the taskforce.
read moreSolicitor General Robert Buckland QC MP will be visiting the North West of England today to look at what is being done to tackle hate crime in the region.
Hate crime is when someone is targeted because of their actual or perceived race, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity or disability. It is a criminal offence and the law provides additional penalties for such crimes.
The North West of England has one of the highest conviction rates for hate crime prosecutions, with nearly 86% of hate crimes prosecuted in Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cumbria resulting in a conviction.
The Solicitor will visit the Crown Prosecution Service’s (CPS) office in Carlisle to discuss its efforts to clamp down on hate crime in the North West, including looking at its successful anti-hate crime education campaign that has been rolled out in schools to help teach young people about the impact hate related bullying has on victims.
As part of the campaign, schools can obtain free packs which include lesson planners for teachers and a DVD that features scenarios based on real-life incidents in which young people have experienced bullying or hate crime because of their identity.
The Solicitor will also visit Carlisle Mencap who received funding last year through the Home Office’s Community Demonstrations Project programme. Mencap has developed a unique teaching programme which was created by people with learning disabilities, for people with learning disabilities based on their own experiences. The programme explains what disability hate crime is, how to recognise it and where people can go for help and support.
Solicitor General Robert Buckland said:
Hate crime has absolutely no place in society, so it’s encouraging to see the work that’s happening in the North West to try to prevent these crimes from happening in the first place.
These innovative schemes can help get to the root of the problem and show others what can be done to tackle hate crime in the community.
Government is taking action at all levels and we are seeing more people prosecuted than ever before – but we need to encourage victims to report these crimes if we are to stamp this out.
The CPS North West Schools Project packs can be downloaded from the Schools Projects webpages. Each pack contains a DVD and lesson plans for teachers. There is a pack for disability hate crime, racist and religious hate crime, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender hate crime.
read moreMore than 13,000 of the UK’s lowest paid workers will get around £2m in back pay as part of the government’s scheme to name employers who have failed to pay National Minimum Wage and Living Wage.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy today (16 August 2017) published a list of 233 businesses that underpaid workers.
As well as paying back staff the money owed, employers on the list have been fined a record £1.9m by the government. Retail, hairdressing and hospitality businesses were among the most prolific offenders.
Since 2013, the scheme has identified £6m back pay for 40,000 workers, with 1,200 employers fined £4m.
While most employers get it right, it is simply not acceptable that some employers in Wales are failing to pay at least the minimum wage their workers are entitled to.
The UK Government is determined to make sure everybody in work receives a fair wage and to building an economy that works for all. April’s increase in the national minimum and living wage rates is putting more money into the pockets of Wales’ lowest paid workers than ever before.
Excuses for not paying employees what they are legally owed will not be tolerated.
It is against the law to pay workers less than legal minimum wage rates, short-changing ordinary working people and undercutting honest employers.
Today’s naming round identifies a record £2m of back pay for workers and sends the clear message to employers that the government will come down hard on those who break the law.
Common errors made by employers in this round included deducting money from pay packets to pay for uniforms, failure to account for overtime hours, and wrongly paying apprentice rates to workers.
HMRC is committed to getting money back into the pockets of underpaid workers, and continues to crack down on employers who ignore the law.
Those not paying workers the National Minimum or Living Wage can expect to face the consequences.
The 17 employers in Wales named today are:
There are currently around 2,000 open cases which HMRC is investigating. Eligible employers will be named and shamed after their cases have been closed.
The government has committed £25.3m for minimum wage enforcement in 2017/18, as well as a £1.7m awareness campaign earlier this year.
David Metcalf, Director of Labour Market Enforcement, released his introductory report in July 2017, stating that he would be working with enforcement agencies to further crackdown on rogue employers.
For more information about your pay, or if you think you might be being underpaid, get advice and guidance here
The revised BEIS scheme to name employers who break minimum wage law came into effect on 1 October 2013. The scheme is one of a range of tools at the government’s disposal to tackle this issue. Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage not only have to pay back arrears of wages to the worker at current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to 200% of arrears, capped at £20,000 per worker. In the most serious cases employers can be prosecuted.
From 1 October 2013, the government revised the naming scheme to make it simpler to name and shame employers who break the law;
Under this scheme the government will name all employers who have been issued with a Notice of Underpayment (NoU) unless employers meet one of the exceptional criteria or have arrears of £100 or less. All 233 cases named today (16 August 2017) failed to pay the correct national minimum or living wage rates and owed arrears of more than £100.
Thank you Mr President and thank you Special Representative Tanin for your briefing. I also want to welcome Ambassador Citaku and Foreign Minister Dacic back to the Council.
Mr President, today, like others, I’ll be adhering to the guidance in the Council note 507, which encourages Council members and non-Council members to deliver their statements in five minutes or less.
Mr President, it has been three months since the Council last met to discuss the situation in Kosovo. As the Secretary-General’s report makes clear, it has been a comparatively quiet period in Kosovo.
In June, we saw the successful holding of free and fair elections in Kosovo. While the European Union’s Election Observers noted some voter intimidation and violence in Kosovan Serb parts of the country, we’re pleased that the vast majority of Kosovans were able to carry out their democratic duty peacefully.
We now look to all parties in Kosovo to take the next vital steps and form a government swiftly. The people have spoken; they now expect a government to get on with the business of governing, getting institutions up and running, and getting the country back on the path to European integration.
Crucially, Mr President, this means getting back to implementing the EU-facilitated dialogue. Progress in the dialogue is absolutely vital for both Kosovo and Serbia. It is the only path to normalisation of relations between these two independent countries. The lines on the map are set; they are fixed. They will not be changed. We shouldn’t be distracted by the quarterly angry and overly lengthy exchanges between Serbia and Kosovo in this Chamber. All that matters are the constructive exchanges in Brussels, like those between Presidents Vucic and Thaci only last month.
Progress on dialogue commitments will also be vital if Kosovo is to continue to improve its standing with international organisations. We will support Kosovo in its efforts to do so. While we welcome UNMIK’s facilitating role between the Kosovo authorities and Interpol, we look forward to Kosovo’s own independent membership of Interpol, so that Pristina can respond directly to requests from partners and so that we can together tackle the challenges posed by international crime.
Mr President, the other notable development since we last met was the agreement of the UN’s peacekeeping budget. It seems extraordinary that at a time when $600 million were found in savings from the peacekeeping budget that UNMIK’s budget should find itself increasing, not decreasing.
What message does that send to the world about the priorities of this Council? What message does it send that Kosovo got additional money for solar panels at a time when this Council was able to find savings in our missions to Darfur, to South Sudan and to so many other places?
This increase in funding is particularly hard to fathom given how peaceful and stable Kosovo has become. As the Secretary-General’s report makes clear, there have been comparatively few challenges to security in Kosovo in the past few months. This is something the recent report of KFOR also makes clear, noting that the trend in Kosovo is incrementally positive.
Mr President, we all recognise the important work that UNMIK has done over many years for the benefit of Kosovo. But it’s time for the Mission to shrink, not grow. As such, we’re disappointed that the budget of UNMIK has increased this year, particularly after numerous calls in the past three sessions for a downscaling of the Mission.
Let me close by echoing the comments made by the representative of Japan and by reiterating the UK’s long standing position that it is past time for this Council to meet less frequently on this issue. The number of issues on our agenda only continues to grow; we must focus our time as a Council and attention on genuine threats to international peace and security. All of us in this room should be thankful that the situation in Kosovo no longer falls into this category.
Thank you.
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