Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 664, this is the weekly e-journal and newsletter brought to you by FE News - giving you the latest news and thought leadership from the week in the World of FE and Skills.

What are the big FE Announcements this week?

This week was the Labour Party conference and they made some announcements about the Labour Party's plan for Skills and a Green Skills economy. We have a sector reaction piece on the announcements: Growth and Skills Levy replacing the Apprenticeship Levy and Skills England.

The award-winning SkillsWorld LIVE also kicked off the Great Skills Debate from the Labour Party conference, which is well worth checking out.

There are further updates on Apprenticeships for Prisoners announced this week and Exams head back towards normality in 2023... we hope!!

Interesting exclusive thought leadership articles on FE News this week:

We have had an epic line up of exclusive feature articles for you again this week, with Jane Hickie from AELP about the Mini-Budget, Robert West from CBI wrote about How collaboration between further education and business will close the digital skills gap.

What happened to youth apprenticeships?

IFS completed their mini-series with a cracker... and a cracking question: What happened to youth apprenticeships?

The opening two paragraphs of Imran and Simon's article are shocking reading:

Half a century ago around one third of teenage boys entered apprenticeships on leaving school, mostly into programmes of 3-4 years in manual trades. A sizeable – though much smaller – proportion of girls also entered apprenticeships in fields like hairdressing. These apprenticeships provided many young people with a route into stable and secure employment. 

Fast-forward to the present day and less than 1 in 20 young people between the ages of 16 and 18 are apprentices, while more than half of all apprentices are over the age of 25.

MH&A's Matthew Atkinson wrote an interesting piece: A clear focus on cash will be essential for colleges and education institutions this winter.

Chris Patton discusses Embedding DE&I in your business – how to harness its power and Meti Basiri on How diversity in university campuses can enrich students’ learning experiences.

Josh Lemon wrote an interesting piece on unlocking cyber skills and Derrin Kent unpacks digital support skills. Dr Jo Foster asks: “What should the new Education Secretary have in his inbox?”

New Livestream season starting on Thursday: #FutureOfApprenticeships

Next week, we have two epic livestreams for you. SkillsWorld LIVE continues the Great Skills Debate at the Conservative Party conference on Friday 7th Oct at 4pm... and we are kicking off a new Livestream season with our friends at NCFE called #TheFutureofApprenticeships - episode 1 is LIVE at 10am on Thursday 6th October.. with the focus on 16-19 Year Olds and Apprenticeships!