| Speakers & Panel |
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Martin Dunford OBEChief Executive, Skills Training UK and Chairman of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) |
| Skills Training UK is a Prime Contractor to DWP for the Troubled Families Programme, which Skills Training has branded Progress! It also holds two Prime Contracts for the Youth Contract, for 16-17 year old NEET’s, with the Education Funding Agency (EFA). Skills Support for the unemployed, the Study Programme and Traineeships for young people and large scale Apprenticeship provision make up the rest of the current delivery portfolio. Skills Training delivers directly and through strong supply chains and in January 2013 was the first and to date the only organisation to achieve the Merlin Standard highest grade of Excellent, for its supply chain design, performance management and partnership working. Previously Martin was the Chief Executive of the Training and Business Group (TBG Learning) which during his time there, from small beginnings grew to become one of the largest organisations delivering both skills and employability provision in the UK. After University Martin began his career in education, teaching science to overseas students in Oxford. He then moved into international sales and marketing, product and business development of high value, hi-tech scientific instrumentation; a demanding industrial market where competitive advantage is achieved via fast paced continuous improvement. Whilst working in this market he gained his MBA. Martin is a founder member and is now in his ninth year as Chairman of The Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), a period in which the organisation has grown considerably in size and influence. He was a member of the Steering Group of The End to End Review of Modern Apprenticeships and also a member of the advisory panel to Sir Andrew Foster (The Foster Review of FE). In 2004 he was appointed to the Board of the Learning and Skills Development Agency (LSDA), and later the Board of the Quality Improvement Agency (QIA), chairing its Finance Committee. Martin is a current member of the Apprenticeship Ambassadors’ Network (AAN) and the BIS Further Education and Skills Ministerial Advisory Panel. Martin was awarded an OBE in the 2010 New Year Honours List for services to skills training. |
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Stewart Segal - Morning ChairChief Executive, Association of Employment and Learning Providers |
| Stewart Segal was appointed to the role of AELP Chief Executive in July 2013. He has worked in the funded work based learning sector for over 20 years and in particular has supported AELP since its formation. Previously, Stewart worked as an independent consultant within the training sector, working with a number of training providers and colleges specialising in business development and funding issues. Following a background in HR and general management in the private sector Stewart, joined Hertfordshire TEC in 1994 as Chief Executive. He also worked at the TEC for 4 years prior to joining Spring Skills as Chief Executive in 1998. Spring Skills was then the largest independent training provider in the sector involved in the delivery of a range of programmes in the service sectors such as retail, customer services, hospitality and business administration. Stewart is also a Director of the Talent Foundation a not for profit network of organisation committed to the development of talent at work. |
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Jennifer CouplandDeputy Director, Joint Apprenticeships Unit, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills/DfE |
| Jennifer Coupland is Deputy Director of the joint DfE/BIS Apprenticeships Unit and is responsible for all aspects of the current Apprenticeship programme as well as Apprenticeship reform policy. Before taking up this post in May this year, Jennifer was the Deputy Director in the Department for Education responsible for the early stages of Traineeship policy development as well as Raising the Participation Age and NEET policy. Jennifer began her public service career in the Employment Service where she ran a benefit section in a local office and delivered a range of programmes to support long term unemployed people into work. Since moving to central Government Jennifer has worked on a number of policy areas including: benefits, schools and post-16 education. She has also worked for two years on secondment to the voluntary sector organisation Education Extra. Jennifer is married and has three daughters. |
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David RussellChief Executive Officer, The Education and Training Foundation |
| On 27th January 2014 David joined the Foundation as permanent CEO. David has a wide range of policy and programme management experience on national education and skills policy in England. Most recently David was Director of Closing the Gap in the Department for Education, where he was responsible for FE and Vocational Education Reform, in addition to the Pupil Premium and behaviour in schools. Prior to joining the civil service David was a teacher. Read more about David’s appointment here. |
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John Hyde FIHExecutive Chairman, HIT Training |
| John has 27 years experience in Work Based Learning (WBL) for the hospitality industry. Previously he owned a small restaurant and catering chain in Brighton after a career in further education both in the UK and Africa. In 1998 John founded Hospitality Plus which he grew in eight years to become the 4th largest WBL training company in the country before selling to the Babcock Group. John was instrumental in founding G10, a trade association for the 10 largest training providers in the UK. G10 successful negotiated the role of the private training provider with the new Learning and Skills Council that replaced the Training and Enterprise Councils in 2001 and later evolved into AELP, the current WBL trade association. Recognising the potential to up-skill the hospitality industry with the new Train to Gain programme in 2006, John returned to the sector to found HIT (Hospitality Industry Training), with several of his colleagues from Hospitality Plus. Today it has grown to be the largest provider of Hospitality Apprenticeships in England with a stunning 85% success rate. HIT is 87% owned by its own staff and directors. John was educated at Kings Norton Grammar School, Birmingham, the University of Birmingham and holds an honorary fellowship from the Institute of Hospitality. John is a director of AELP (Association of Employment & Learning Providers) and represents AELP at several government and trade groups, including BIS’s FE Reform Board and the LSIS Council. |
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Nick Linford - Afternoon Event ChairDirector at Lsect and former Editor of FE Week |
| Nick Linford is an expert in further education funding and performance systems and a company director of Lsect Ltd. His popular funding workshops and conferences have been attended by more than 10,000 staff in the last five years, and he is also author of the Complete Guide to Funding Apprenticeships (www.fundingguide.co.uk) and both theHands-on guide to post-16 funding and theHands-on guide to post-16 performance and data (www.dataguide.co.uk), published by Pearson. Nick was formerly Managing Director of Lsect (www.lsect.com) which publishes the only newspaper dedicated to covering the FE sector, FE Week (www.feweek.co.uk); for which he was the founder and its editor from 2011 to 2013. Prior to setting-up Lsect Nick established an education think tank at the publishers Pearson, and before that was Director of Planning and Performance at the Lewisham College, during which time they achieved an Ofsted grade one. |
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Keith SmithExecutive Director, Funding and Programmes, Skills Funding Agency |
| Keith has worked in and around the Skills system for the past 15 years. He studied Business at a Further Education College whilst working throughout his early career within Jobcentre Plus and a Contracts Manager overseeing programmes for the unemployed. In 2001, he entered the Learning and Skills Council as a local FE Manager responsible for funding allocations and supporting local providers meet the needs of their learners and employers. Keith then moved to the National Office where he has headed up the national allocations systems, performance management and led the development work for Minimum Levels of Performance. In 2010, Keith then joined the National Apprenticeship Service as the Director of Operations, and then moved on to lead the work for the Skills Funding Agency heading up the reform and simplification of the funding system. In this role, he also had operational responsibility for the simplification of the Register of Training Organisations and European Social Fund. From July 2012, he was appointed to the post of Executive Director Funding and Programmes, leading the Agency’s work on funding policy and implementation, investment of programme budgets and provider performance, funding allocations, Qualification approval, European Social Fund and the design and delivery of all funding systems. |
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Patrick CravenHead of Learning, Assessment & Design Practice, City and Guilds |
| Initially qualified as a Designer, he has over 20 years experience in the field of educational technology. From the design of educational resources with the Microelectronics Support Unit (MESU), National Council for Educational Technology (NCET) and BECTa (British Education and Communications Technology Agency) to running of post-sales technology support departments for KRCS (Apple Computer reseller), his career has always addressed the fusion of education and new technologies.
For the last 15 years this work has focussed on the specific field of assessment technology research and development for the RSA Examinations Board, OCR Examinations, Cambridge Assessment and joined the City & Guilds Group in June 2013. This role considers the growing impact of Policy and new technologies on the assessment industry. It also identifies projects to enable City & Guilds to develop and extend the range and quality of learning and assessment products and services they offer. |
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Tom WilsonUnionlearn, TUC |
| Tom was appointed Director of Unionlearn - the education, learning and skills organisation of the TUC - in July 2009. Prior to that, Tom had been Head of the Organisation and Services Department at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) from July 2003. Tom was previously head of NATFHE's Universities Department for five years, having before that been Head of Research and then Assistant General Secretary at the Association of University Teachers from 1988. His other experience includes two years in employment research, with Incomes Data Services (a publishing house specialising in employment publications), and then five years with the GMB (the UK's fourth largest trade union). Tom was also the National Trade Union Liaison Officer for the Labour Party (1986-1988). Tom has an MA in Industrial Relations from Warwick University (1978-79) and a Diploma in Social Administration from York University. His first degree was in Philosophy from St Andrews University. In 1996 Tom gained a postgraduate Certificate in Employment Law from Middlesex University. A Fellow of the Institute of Personnel and Development, the professional institute for management involved in personnel and staff development. |
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Jayne McCann
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| Jayne McCann leads the delivery of phase 2 Trailblazers in the BIS and DfE Apprenticeship Unit. Her previous responsibilities within the Unit include Apprenticeship Quality, Standards policy, and working on the Government response to the Richard Review. Before her civil service career Jayne taught English in Hong Kong, and held posts at Merseyside Police and Hugh Baird College. |
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Chris JefferyStrategy and Policy Adviser, GP Strategies |
| Chris Jeffery has worked in the learning and development sector for 25 years. For most of that time she was Managing Director and major shareholder of Academy of Training Ltd until 2010 when she sold the company to GP Strategies; Chris now works for GP as their Strategy and Policy Adviser.
GP Strategies UK is part of GP Strategies Corporation, a global performance improvement provider of sales and technology training, eLearning solutions, manufacturing consulting and engineering services, based in the US. Chris was elected to the AELP board in 2009 and represents AELP as a director and trustee on the board of the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), she was previously a trustee and council member of the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS).
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Richard MarshEmployer Services Director, National Apprenticeship Service |
| Richard manages the Employer Services division, at the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) He is responsible for the quality of service offered by NAS to employers that have, or wish to have Apprentices. He has previously been worked as
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Ian CarnellApprenticeship and Certification Manager, SEMTA |
• 22 years with Rolls Royce Aerospace - Jet engine fitter/tester (development engineering) - Foreman jet engine test department and Halford Laboratory (development engineering) - Manager jet engine test (development engineering) • Training controller/Manager (Young People) Rolls Royce - Leavesden Watford • Operations Manager (Young People) - Hertfordshire Training and Enterprise Council • Apprenticeship and Certification Manager - SEMTA |
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