The Institute was established to uphold the quality of apprenticeship standards in England. To support its efforts, it is seeking to bring clarity by defining what an apprenticeship is, what a high quality apprenticeship looks like and how that should be judged. The Institute has today published a draft ‘Quality Statement’ which will act as a core reference point for its work and will help shape the wider apprenticeship landscape. Employers, training providers, assessors and members of the public now have the opportunity to offer feedback on the draft statement and suggest any changes.

Antony Jenkins, Chair of the Institute for Apprenticeships said:

Apprenticeships can be fantastic for businesses and learners, but only if they are high quality. It is our duty to make that happen but in order to do it effectively we need to make sure we are all working towards the same goal.

We all have a stake in the delivery of quality apprenticeships, which help to address skills gaps and boost our nation’s workforce. So it is right that everyone has the chance to have their say when we think about what that should mean in practice.”

The survey period will last three weeks, closing on 18 October. A period of assessment will follow, after which a final statement will be published.

Find the draft Quality Statement survey

The short document has been drafted in conjunction with groups collectively monitoring quality and outcomes in the apprenticeship sector – The Quality Alliance. This group brings together the various government bodies whose roles together ensure the quality of apprenticeships. Its membership includes the ESFA (National Apprenticeship Service), Ofsted, Ofqual, HEFCE (The Office for Students), The Quality Assurance Agency and DfE, with the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, the Association of Colleges and Universities UK attending as advisors. The Quality Alliance’s role is to monitor quality across the sector and build effective coordination to improve quality where appropriate.

Calls to the criminal applications team will be diverted to central customer services on 0300 200 2020 from 2 October 2017.

A Sunderland-based firm has been ordered to pay over £14,700 for breaking environmental laws, which contributed to the illegal dumping of 585 tonnes of waste.

Thompson Waste Ltd runs a waste transfer station at The Parade in Hendon. The company was handed the fine by Sunderland Magistrates’ Court on 25 September 2017 after pleading guilty to charges brought by the Environment Agency for failing to comply with duty of care legislation. The legislation requires businesses to ensure their waste is transferred and disposed of legally.

Chris Bunting, prosecuting for the Environment Agency, told the court that a proportion of 585 tonnes of mixed waste, which was dumped illegally in a disused factory warehouse at Lisburn Terrace, Pallion, could be traced back to Thompson Waste Ltd. It cost the landlords of the site over £100,000 to dispose of lawfully.

Investigations showed that between September 2015 and January 2016, the company paid a local man below market rates to remove waste from their site without fulfilling their legal requirement to check it was being taken to a permitted destination. The paperwork completed failed to include required details such as the origin of the waste or an accurate description.

The Court ruled that the company had acted recklessly. In mitigation, Robin Patton, acting on behalf of the defendant, told the Court that the waste represented a tiny fraction of the company’s business and that they had co-operated with the investigation.

Thompson Waste Ltd was fined £3,335 and ordered to pay compensation of £5,394 and costs of £6,000.

Rachael Caldwell, from the Environment Agency’s Waste and Enforcement Department, said:

All producers and operators have a responsibility to ensure that their waste is disposed of lawfully. Those that don’t are as liable for the detrimental impact it has on the environment and local communities as those that dump it.

Thompson Waste Ltd broke the law over several months, showing little regard for the environment. We hope this case demonstrates the importance of environmental compliance. Anyone who breaks the rules will be pursued, and where repeated or significant breaches are found, we will prosecute.

A trial involving other defendants allegedly linked to the illegal waste dumping in Pallion is set to take place next year.

If you see waste crime taking place report it by calling our incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The second to be named in the City Class of eight brand new, cutting-edge, anti-submarine warfare frigates, HMS Belfast will provide advanced protection for the likes of the UK’s nuclear deterrent and Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers. The Defence Secretary revealed the name at Belfast shipyard Harland and Wolff, which built the Royal Navy’s last HMS Belfast, in 1938.

Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said:

I’m hugely proud that the second name announced of our eight cutting-edge new Type 26 frigates will be HMS Belfast. She and her sister ships will form the backbone of our Navy well into the 2060s, keeping us safe by protecting the country’s nuclear deterrent and new aircraft carriers.

It’s apt to name this ship at the famous site which built the very first HMS Belfast. Thanks to our ambitious new National Shipbuilding Strategy, this shipyard once again has the chance to be involved in building a British warship thanks to the competition to build a new class of light frigates for our growing Royal Navy.

The Defence Secretary launched the ambitious National Shipbuilding Strategy earlier in the month, and as part of that laid out plans for a first batch of another new class of frigates – the Type 31e.

A concept image of the new Type 26 frigate, one of which will be called HMS Belfast.

A competitive procurement process for those ships could see them shared between yards and assembled at a central hub. The warships will be built in the UK, with a price cap of no more than £250m, and will be designed to meet the needs of both the Royal Navy and the export market.

The Defence Secretary has personally committed to visiting all of the UK’s major shipyards in the run-up to industry bringing forward its solutions for the Type 31e class, as he looks to grow the Royal Navy fleet for the first time since World War Two.

Just before the start of the Second World War, the original HMS Belfast was commissioned, having being built at Harland and Wolff shipyard. She went on to support the Battle of North Cape, the Normandy landings and the Korean War.

The original ship now belongs to Imperial War Museums and is permanently docked in London. Before the new HMS Belfast commissions, the original HMS Belfast will be renamed ‘HMS Belfast 1938’, the year the ship was launched.

The original HMS Belfast, belonging to the Imperial War Museum, based on the Thames. the ship will now be renamed as HMS Belfast (1938).

Diane Lees, Director General, Imperial War Museums:

IWM is delighted that the name HMS Belfast will return again to the Royal Navy’s front line as a major warship. We welcome the opportunity this will bring for our internationally significant museum to have a close affiliation with the new Belfast, enabling a powerful link between the Royal Navy’s past and present. Before the new HMS Belfast commissions, IWM’s ship’s identity will evolve to HMS Belfast (1938), the year the ship was launched, in order to prevent any possibility of confusion.

The new HMS Belfast is set to enter service in the mid-2020s and, along with her fellow Type 26 frigates, will have a truly global reach, protecting the UK’s strategic interests as well as the likes of the UK’s nuclear submarines, and delivering high-end warfighting capability wherever it is needed.

Its flexible design will also enable these capabilities to be adapted to counter future threats, whilst the ships will also benefit from the latest advances in digital technology.

Part of the MOD’s £178bn equipment plan, the three ships being built under the first contract will safeguard 4,000 jobs in Scotland and across the UK supply chain until 2035. The Defence Secretary cut steel on HMS Glasgow, the first Type 26, in July, whilst the other is yet to be named.

The Defence Secretary visited Harland & Wolff, near Belfast, one of the UK shipyards that could bid for the new Type 31e frigates.

Admiral Sir Philip Jones, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff, said:

The City class theme has been chosen for the Type 26 frigates in order to reaffirm the bond between the Nation and it’s Navy. We want to honour some of the great centres of industry and commerce in all parts of the United Kingdom, and few cities have such a rich maritime heritage as Belfast.

The previous HMS Belfast (1938) is one of the most famous ships of the twentieth century, serving at the Battle of North Cape, in the Arctic campaign and at the Normandy landings, and later with the United Nations forces sent to Korea. It is wonderful that she survives today as a museum, but the Royal Navy believes that such a distinguished fighting name deserves to take its place once more in our operational fleet. A world leader in anti-submarine warfare, the new HMS Belfast will work with our allies in NATO and around the world to preserve the freedom and security that her predecessor fought so hard to secure.

The possible block building solution for the Type 31e reflects the way that the UK’s huge new aircraft carriers were built, and also the UK’s new polar research ship, the RRS Sir David Attenborough. That ship’s central assembly hub is Merseyside shipyard Cammell Laird, which the Defence Secretary paid a visit to on Tuesday. The company already provides the in-service support for a number of the Navy’s Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ships.

Before heading to Harland and Wolff today, the Defence Secretary also visited Thales’ air defence facility in Belfast. The site produces the ‘Starstreak’ short-range missile for the British Army and is also producing a new lightweight, multirole missile for the Army’s Wildcat helicopters.

Whilst the second to be named, HMS Belfast is Ship 3 in the Type 26 programme. Ship 1 is called HMS Glasgow and Ship 2 is yet to be named.