| August 2008 |
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This is the LSC East Midlands Marcoms News, which aims to ensure that you have the all latest information on the LSC's programmes, projects and campaigns.
Summer of Skills
A ‘Top Boss’ press release was issued in July – this positive piece draws on results from a commissioned survey about what employees feel a ‘top boss’ would look like. It includes quotes from James Caan, a panellist on Dragons Den, as well as LSC and DIUS spokespersons. Skills for Life
Adult Learning Grant (ALG)
Train to Gain
The August Train to Gain campaign “Unlocking your staff's potential” goes live from 4 to 29 August. It involves:
The LSC has just published a third sector leaflet about how the sector can access Train to Gain for it’s paid and unpaid staff. Skills Pledge
Apprenticeships
The 2008 National Apprenticeship Awards received a record number of entries this year with over 1,400 individuals and companies vying to be named Apprentice or Employer of the Year. The East Midlands faired exceptionally well with Kingscliffe Day Nursery in Loughborough clinching the title of Micro Employer of the Year Award while Forum Computers in Lincoln came highly commended in the same category. Also highly commended was David Khan from Ainsley Estate in the Apprentice of the Year category and Gemma Barrett from Mansfield for Advanced Apprentice of the Year. We will also be amplifying the Apprenticeships message post Awards with national and sector display advertising, national radio advertising and online search/keyword targeting. The adverts will feature case studies of award winners and there will be a roll of honour advert celebrating all the winners from the Awards. We have also set up media partnerships with The Sun and The Telegraph to support the Apprenticeship Awards. There will be several pieces in both newspapers during July and August.
National Radio advertising ran from 11-20 July on 98 regional radio stations using the same adverts from the February.
Four weeks of paid search advertising (e.g. google adverts) have been running from 10 July.
Education Maintenance Allowance
Pod castsA new pod cast is now available for your use. It features renowned feisty businesswoman and BBC TV ‘The Apprentice’ runner-up, Ruth Badger, sharing her advice to forge a career in sales. This is available for you to use on your own website. To view the podcast click here. Training Quality StandardFour more training providers have been certificated, bringing the total now to 37. LSC national office is working on a new mar/comms strategy that we hope to circulate end August/early Sept. Learner Support ToolkitThe Learner Support Directorate manages a number of schemes of support, targeting financial help to those learners most in need. This includes Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), Adult Learning Grant (ALG) and Care to Learn, as well as a number of other schemes. Skills AccountsSkills Accounts are being piloted in the East Midlands this year, as a progression to the Adult Learner Accounts pilot that were tested in some areas of the region last year. The Skills Accounts pilot involves eight strategic partners & Guideline Career Services. Skills Accounts branding is currently being developed along with a communications toolkit. Skills Accounts queries should be forwarded to: samantha.keating@lsc.gov.uk Diploma CampaignThe Bringing Learning to Life Diploma marketing campaign for 2008/09 will be launched in September. The new campaign is aimed at parents, young people and key influencer audiences. It will use radio, press and poster advertising, PR, advertorials, internet resources, road shows, leaflets and DVDs. Other items of interestNational strategy road show events – Ian Pearson, minister of state for science & innovation is delivering his vision for innovation in the UK. He is coming to the East Midlands in September. For more details about this event, contact: paul.driver@dius.gsi.gov.uk or tel: 0114 259 3060 National Audit Office (NAO) reports success of FE college rebuilding programme - The NAO reports that the LSC has now approved ?4.2 billion of building work and contributed £1.7 billion. Click here for summary. FE & Skills e-Newsletter – Click here to view the latest newsletter and find out how to subscribe for future editions. Press releasesNational and regional press releases issued to the media during July 2008: NATIONALNew Further Education (FE) Specialisation and Innovation fund launchedDate published: 28/07/2008 From today FE colleges and training providers can tap into a new fund to help them connect with businesses in an innovative and collaborative way. 1 in 5 find holiday sums confusingDate published: 28/07/2008 1 in 5 people in England struggle with converting currencies when abroad and admit it is their top maths worry. With school summer holidays now getting;underway, the Get On campaign is urging sun seekers to brush up on their maths skills to avoid bringing home debt, as well as a tan. Britains top boss revealedDate published: 28/07/2008 New research into Britain’s best bosses, released today by the Learning and Skills Council to celebrate Skills and Apprenticeships, reveals that 51 per cent of the country’s workforce would most like to work for the tycoon Sir Richard Branson. The well-known businessman beat a host of household names including Sir Alan Sugar, Gordon Ramsay and Sir Alex Ferguson to take the prize. Nine in ten learners satisfied with their further educationDate published: 23/07/2008 The FE system continues to make a significant contribution to the skills of the nation, with success rates in FE at record levels (78 per cent) as shown in the LSC’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2007-08 Learning and Skills: changing lives, improving work and learner satisfaction remaining high at over 90 per cent. Government To Map Out The Route to Zero Carbon FE CollegesDate published: 16/07/2008 Minister for Further Education Bill Rammell will today announce how a major building programme will deliver zero carbon, state-of-the-art FE colleges throughout England. Learning and Skills Council announces winners of Apprenticeship Awards 2008Date published: 11/07/2008 The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) today announces the winners of the national Apprenticeship Awards 2008. Now in their fifth year, the Awards are designed to recognise the hard work and commitment of people who are currently undertaking, or who have recently completed, an Apprenticeship, as well as the employers who are successfully using Apprenticeships to improve business performance. Getting that Dream Career is easy according to one in four British teenagersDate published: 04/07/2008 ;New research commissioned by the Learning and Skills Council’s (LSC) to highlight its Education Maintenance Allowance has revealed that a staggering quarter of English teenagers believe that education is not important in achieving their goals – showing that today’s teenagers clearly need a reality check when it comes to pursuing their dream career. EAST MIDLANDSSuccessful project leaves smiles all roundDate published: 01/08/2008 Press release about training project for ex-offenders Training gets sport coaches fit for London OlympicsDate published: 24/07/2008 Press release about training for sports coaches Record number of entries to Apprenticeship Awards as Government urges more individuals to undertake ApprenticeshipsDate published: 14/07/2008 East Midlands Apprenticeship Awards winners 2008 We are always very keen to hear from you - so if you have any case studies or a story to tell please call us on 07876 035084 email em.marcomms@lsc.gov.uk ! LSC Campaign updatesThe LSC East Midlands aims to provide its providers and partners with regular bulletins, similar in style to this one, to keep them up to date on marketing and communications activities in relation to the Skills Campaign and other campaigns. If you wish to unsubscribe to this service, {UNSUBSCRIBE "please click here to unsubscribe"}. If this update has been forwarded to you from a colleague and you would like to receive your own dedicated communication in future, please subscribe by clicking here. You can register to receive regular updates to news and other items by subscribing to the LSC East Midlands web alert service. Click on this link to register for this service: http://www.lsc.gov.uk/regions/EastMidlands/News/lscwebalerts/ |
This summer the LSC is launching the ‘Summer of Skills’. This activity will help raise awareness about the benefits of learning new skills and will address the barriers that people identify when considering learning. The ‘Summer of Skills’ will include a refreshed burst of the Skills Campaign TV advert, which will appear on your screens throughout the summer until 24 August. In addition to the TV adverts there will be press, radio, outdoor and PR activity. 
The ‘Get On’ Skills for Life campaign has started (w/c 28 July – w/c 11 Aug). The focus of the message is to direct people to the help line 0800 66 0800 and the web site 
On 25 June we launched PR activity to celebrate the success of ALG one year on since its national roll out. Statistics to reveal how many people have used ALG in the past year, exceeding expectations, were supported by case studies of people who have successfully used ALG to help them since national roll out. Coverage has been generated regionally, as well as nationally, including an interview with BBC Radio 4's Learning Curve programme and the Daily Mirror interviewed and photographed an ALG case study for a feature.
New Skills Pledge branding material is now available on the LSC campaign resources site. 
The latest EMA press release (4 July) communicated how today’s young people think getting their dream job is easy, an ‘Instant Career’. The story was created around a national survey that investigated what teenagers felt about careers, ambition and how easily they could get their dream job.