A man who participated in 2 knife-point robberies has today been jailed after the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC MP, referred his suspended sentence for being too low.

James Quinn, now 21, committed 2 street robberies in Leatherhead when he was 19. The victims were aged 11 and 15.

For the first offence, Quinn was accompanied by 2 younger co-defendants, one of whom produced a knife. The group threatened the victim until he gave them his bag and a jumper worth about £150. When the victim threatened to call the police, Quinn drew out a lock knife and threatened to stab him. He also punched the victim several times, although caused no serious harm.

The offenders stole the younger victim’s phone later the same day. Again, one of the offenders confronted the victim with a knife. Quinn was later arrested and found to be in possession of the stolen bag and phone, as well as a lock knife.

Quinn was originally sentenced in January to 2 years imprisonment suspended for 2 years at Guildford Crown Court. Today, the Court of Appeal has given him a sentence of 2 years and 10 months immediate custody.

Commenting on the increase, the Solicitor General said:

“Quinn’s acts of senseless violence not only put the safety of his young victims at risk, but have the potential to lead to the proliferation of knife crime amongst victims and members of the public who now fear for their own safety.”

The Adult Education Budget (AEB) low-wage trial, which started in 2018 to 2019, will continue in 2019 to 2020, enabling providers in receipt of ESFA funded AEB to fully fund learners, who are employed and in receipt of a low wage and cannot contribute towards the cost of co-funding fees. The low-wage threshold has been increased to £16,009.50.

The trial will help to increase AEB participation and lift social mobility barriers to learning for those who would not otherwise engage due to course fees being unaffordable. It will also support those that are in low paid employment and are wanting to further progress in work and in their chosen career.

The current AEB fee remission rules focus on providing full funding for eligible unemployed adults, young people (aged 19 to 23) with skills below level 2, and adults aged 19 and over, without English and maths up to level 2. Currently individuals who do not fall into one of these categories may have to contribute 50% towards the cost of their learning (commonly known as co-funding).

The 2019 to 2020 eligibility requirements for learners to receive full funding during the trial are:

• those that are eligible for co-funding for provision, up to and including level 2, and,
• earn less than £16,009.50 annual gross salary

To confirm learner eligibility providers must:

• have seen evidence of the learner’s gross annual wages in these circumstances, for example, this could be a wage slip or Universal Credit statement, within 3 months of the learner’s learning start date, or a current employment contract, which states gross monthly/annual wages
• enter the ILR monitoring code (363) for every eligible learner they fully fund through this trial, this is imperative as we will use data collected to inform future adult funding policy development

In the 2019 to 2020 funding year adult education functions are being devolved to a number of specified Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and the Greater London Authority (GLA). As a result, the extension of the trial only applies to individuals resident in areas of England outside of the MCAs/GLA areas undertaking ESFA funded AEB learning. The MCAs/GLA will publish their own funding rules that will apply to providers in receipt of devolved AEB funding.

The requirements associated with the trial and further information about AEB devolution, are available in the ESFA adult education budget (AEB) funding rules 2019 to 2020.

This year’s allocations have been issued in a new digital format through Manage your education and skills funding(MyESF), which replaces the Skills Funding Service.

The new digital system has been designed following user feedback and is a more up to date, efficient and simple way for providers to access their allocations.

2019 to 2020 is a significant year for the Adult Education Budget (AEB), as it is the first year of devolution. This means that we will fund learners outside devolved areas only, and that is reflected in our funded AEB allocations.

The 19 to 24 traineeships programme is not being devolved and is being managed nationally. The ambition is to grow this programme and we are committing to fund 10% over-delivery at the end of the funding year.

We have also allocated a 1% increase in advanced learner loans.

We have published a technical guidance note which shows how we have worked out your allocations.

Should providers or colleges have any queries on their allocations, they should contact the servicedesk or their contract manager.

Keen apprentices from LLWR brushed up on their painting skills to support an emergency short stay homeless hostel in Egremont.

The seven undertook the painting task at Calderwood House as part of National Apprenticeship Week, saving the shelter the cost of paying for the work.

In addition to painting the communal area and kitchen, the apprentices applied their skills to a suite sponsored by LLWR. The suite, one of 10 at Calderwood, is currently occupied by an Armed Forces veteran who was homeless but is now about to start employment.

Steve Pettit, Hostel Manager, said: “Generous support from LLWR is helping us keep our doors open, and right now they are supporting us with a job that would cost us quite a lot of money if it was being done by professional painters.

“The apprentices have paid attention to detail and the job looks great. It’s amazing how fast and efficient they’ve been, and they are also a very polite and well-mannered group.”

Six of the apprentices joined LLWR in September last year and work in a range of areas, including project management, project controls, Operations & Departments Management.

“It’s nice to be able to help Calderwood House and at the same time get our apprentices out of the office, doing something different. They are so enthusiastic and driven.” said Abbie Wright, LLWR’s Apprenticeship Scheme Coordinator.

“They all work in separate parts of the business, so a day like this is also good for team building.”

The Home Office has pledged to go further in helping men and boys who are victims of crimes such as domestic abuse and sexual violence.

Today, the government has published its first cross-government position statement on male victims of crimes, which sets out the scale of abuse against men and the specific vulnerabilities they face.

The Male Victims Position Statement sets out 12 specific commitments to better enable male victims and survivors to come forward and receive the support they need and bring perpetrators to justice. These include:

• providing £500,000 to specialist organisations that support male victims and survivors of domestic abuse
• awarding a specialist LGBT domestic abuse organisation that supports LGBT victims and survivors with £500,000
• providing £24 million over the next three years for services providing advice and counselling to all victims of sexual violence, including men and boys

According to research by the Male Survivors Partnership some men can take over 31 years to disclose their ordeals. The statement notes that attitudes around masculinity can mean male victims take a long time to report these experiences.

Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerabilities, Victoria Atkins said:

Men can, and do, suffer from crimes such as domestic and sexual abuse. It is a horrendous experience that often goes unrecognised and it is heartbreaking some men feel they cannot report their experiences because of societal views around masculinity.

As a government we are determined to bring these horrific crimes to light and support victims and survivors, regardless of gender.

Duncan Craig, CEO of Survivors Manchester said:

I’m so pleased to see the government’s position statement on boys and men affected by crimes classed as Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). As a professional working with male survivors of sexual violence and a survivor myself, this statement sends a clear message to boys and men that the government sees you and they are taking what happened to you seriously, that kind of recognition is priceless and will positively add to men’s healing.

On behalf of the Male Survivors Partnership, we welcome the government’s position statement on boys and men affected by VAWG crimes. This historic step forward gives male victims and survivors the overt recognition they deserve and enables us and service providers across the UK a national point of reference

These measures are on top of commitments made to all victims of gender-based violence as part of the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy refresh, which was published yesterday.