Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 801: 14th June 2025 | How Will the Five Major Announcements Affect You? From the Spending Review, To Nuclear to AI Skills. FE Soundbite Edition 801. There have been five major announcements this week, how will this affect you and your learners?

This is the weekly e-newsletter and e-journal by FE News: ISSN 2732-4095. We know life is busy, so here's a snapshot of the latest announcements and epic thought leadership articles from sector influencers and thought leaders across FE and Skills this week on FE News.

Gavin’s Reflective Perspective

Wow, another really busy week in the World of FE, Skills and Employability. Another five major announcements or reports from Government again this week alone! Well this is the point of Soundbite to help you keep up to date with the fast moving World of Further Education, Skills, Work Based Learning and Employability!

Spending Review

The Spending Review should be the biggest news this week. There was a surprising £1.2 Billion annual investment announcement (pretty much everything else was previously announced in our side of the Spending Review).

Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled a transformative £1.2 billion annual investment in training and upskilling young people, promising that the Spending Review will provide funding for skills, including to ensure 1.3 million 16‑19 year‑olds can access high‑quality training opportunities.

Outside of this, A day or so before the Spending Review there was the pre-announcement that 1,500 Apprenticeship Opportunities were available at Sizewell C Nuclear plan with a £14.2 Billion investment into building Sizewell C. Interestingly in the Sizewell C announcement, this was a pure Nuclear investment announcement with Sizewell C (and the Apprenticeship roles), Small Modular Reactors, Fusion and also Defence Spending around Nuclear related areas (like Submarine bases etc). Being nerdy, this is rare for Government to look interdisciplinary like this. Skills England's report last week talked about Interdisciplinary thinking.. and their 10 Priority Skills Areas (that include Clean Energy, Defence, Advanced Manufacturing. So this is interesting (in a Gavin Kinda of Nerdy way).

ONS Labour Market - now 59,000 less Vacancies than before the Pandemic

We also had the latest ONS Labour Market stats. There are now 59,000 less vacancies than before the pandemic!! The unemployment rate is now at 4.6%, the highest level for nearly four years. The unemployment rate for the 16–24-year-old population not in full-time education has increased from 12.2% to 12.7%, an additional 16,300 young people. This was released just a day before the Spending Review. So you can see the logic in the £1.2 Billion investment announced in the Spending Review... but what about support for adults and those outside the 10 Skills Priority Areas... and what about support for Careers Advice and Guidance?

DfE AI Guidance

DfE released two AI announcements this week (like buses)! First up the £1M and First ever AI guidance helps teachers use tech to transform teaching and unlock more time with pupils. Which sounds great on the surface, but as our Dan highlighted, there could be a few potential issues on GDPR, privacy, shadow AI and all sorts without additional layers of guidance for leaders to share with their teams!

£187M TechFirst AI programme for 7.5M Adults

There was also the additional £187M TechFirst announcement, a national skills programme to bring digital skills and AI into the classroom and communities (we were assured that this is also for FE Colleges by DfE, who have an annoying habit of missing off Colleges or FE in general in these big announcements, only to say, 'oh yes, this includes FE'... well where does it say that??)... and for 7.5 Million UK workers to gain AI skills by 2030 through partnerships with NVIDIA, Google and Microsoft.

Almost 6 Million People Are Juggling Employment with Unpaid Care

Learning and Work released a really interesting report: Nearly 6 million People are Balancing Employment with Unpaid Care, which highlights the need for flexible learning and working options to be baked into skills policy creation!

.... and Christine Gilbert was announced as the Chair of Ofsted!

So you wait Three Months to Hear about the 10 Technical Excellence Colleges ... when you do, you have just 3 weeks to Apply to be a CTEC!

Colleges Have Just Three Weeks to Apply To Be A Construction Technical Excellence College!

So you wait 3 months to hear more about the £100M Technical Excellence Colleges mentioned in the Spring Statement in March (this was a part of the £600M Construction Training packages mentioned in March) ... then when you do hear about it.. you have literally 3 weeks to apply to be one of the 10 Construction Technical Excellence Colleges. Click here to find out more about the new Construction Technical Excellence Colleges, the Hub and Spoke Model, where they will be, and the next steps.

I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week.

Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles

Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week

Firstly, Is Investment In Education Becoming a Big Gamble? Why HE In UK Has Reached a Tipping Point By Neil Wolstenholme, Kloodle Chairman

Secondly, How AI is Reshaping Feedback and Empowering Student Agency in UK By Imran Ali-Farzal, Co-CEO of KEATH.ai & Lumin.ai

Finally, A Crossroad for the HE Sector: Immigration Reform Signals Change Ahead By Danni Croucher, Policy Lead, NCUB.

This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!

Fast, Safe and Accountable: AI in Education Cannot Wait for Perfect Conditions By Danny O’Meara, Operations Manager, FE News

Protecting Core Skills Should be at the Heart of the UK’s ‘AI in College’ Strategy By Dr. Raoul-Gabriel Urma, founder & Group CEO of Cambridge Spark

Bridging the Gap: The Skills Needed to Deliver Net Zero By Alison Morris, Head of Policy at Skills Federation, Stephen Barrett, Director of Membership and Strategic Engagement, Energy & Utility Skills (EU Skills) and David Nash, Director of Strategy and Policy, Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB)

Turing Grant Trips Abroad: A Crucial Part of Experiential Learning and Why They Must be Saved By Maria Bowness, Group Director: Curriculum and Pedagogy, Milton Keynes College Group.

What’s New in the World of FE?

Announcements

Spending Review 2025: £1.2bn Annual Investment in Skills and Training By HM Treasury

New £187m ‘TechFirst’ AI Skills Programme to Train 1m Students for Jobs of the Future By the Department for Education (DfE)

AI Guidance Helps Teachers Use AI and EdTech To Transform Teaching And Unlock More Time With Pupils By the Department for Education (DfE)

1,500 Apprenticeship Opportunities In Nuclear Funding Package, with £14.2 Billion Investment To Build Sizewell C By HM Treasury

One of UK’s largest road projects officially opens By the Welsh Government

Appointments

Dame Christine Gilbert announced as Chair of Ofsted By Ofsted

Reports

ONS Labour Market Overview June 2025. Vacancies Now 59,000 Below Pre-Pandemic Levels! By the Office for National Statistics (ONS)

Nearly 6 million People are Balancing Employment with Unpaid Care, New report finds By the Learning and Work Institute

Voices

The Silent Dropout Risk Universities Can’t Ignore By Eleanor Morden, Head of Marketing, Cirrus Response

Under Attack: Strengthening Cyber Security in Higher and Further Education By Mark Robertson, CEO of Acumen Cyber

Designing a Better Education for Young Creative Talent By Katy McCabe, Education Program Manager at Affinity, part of Canva

In The Know

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Are you going to join us on the 30th October in Manchester, for the Green Skills, Green Mindset Micro Collective. This is in partnership with our friends at Education and Training Foundation. Come and join us to help shape this massively important report, particularly after Skills England have highlighted the massive need in this massively important area. Spaces are limited, so I'd recommend booking early!

We hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week. Stay curious, keep innovating, and let's shake up the world of FE together – catch you next week!

By Danny O’Meara, Digital Project Manager, FE News

By Gavin O’Meara, CEO and Founder, FE News and FE Careers