Rathbone, through its membership of Fair Train, has raised the issue of achieving more towards a Big Society through the effective joining up of policies across departments at a meeting with Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd

Whilst the government is strongly promoting volunteering and apprenticeships through the appropriate departments separately, a disconnect in policy through the implementation in April 2011 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act that will see anyone volunteering in the workplace deemed ineligible to be an apprentice or to benefit from funding for apprentice training.

The Minister welcomed the raising of the issue and asked for more details of this policy and other examples where more could be achieved with a co-ordinated approach across departments. We have sent a letter detailing the issues and possible solutions

If you'd like to find our more about this, please click here to contact Stephen Gardner, Director of Employer Based Training.