|
Connexions Card
The Connexions Card was a smart card for 16- to 19-year-olds in England for rewarding students who turned up to lessons, work-based training and other activities with points that could be redeemed for discounts on consumer goods listed on the Connexions website, bus journeys or suitable goods in local retailers. The seven-year contract to run the Connexions Card was won by Capita, signed in July 2001, and operated as a Public-Private Partnership with a budget of £109million. The scheme flopped and was sunsetted in the summer of 2006 with a saving of £23million. Over the course of its operation, from its roll-out in early 2002 to its conclusion, one million cards had been issued but only 145,947 had ever been used. (183 million out of 1.6 billion points had been redeemed.) An official evaluation of the programme completed in September 2004 concluded that the programme had fallen far short of its aims (e.g. 1.7 million young people using the card in a steady state) and there w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic period, but takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The English language, the Anglican Church, and Engli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capita
Capita plc, commonly known as Capita, is an international business process outsourcing and professional services company headquartered in London. It is the largest business process outsourcing and professional services company in the United Kingdom, with an overall market share of 29% in 2016, and has clients in central government, local government and the private sector. It also has a property and infrastructure consultancy division which is the fourth largest multidisciplinary consultancy in the UK. Roughly half of its turnover comes from the private sector and half from the public sector. Whilst UK-focused, Capita also has operations across Europe, Africa and Asia. Capita is listed on the London Stock Exchange. History Capita was formed in 1984, as a division of the non-profit CIPFA (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy). In 1987, it became an independent company with 33 staff as a result of a management buy-out, led by Rod Aldridge, and was first listed o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Individual Learning Account
The Individual Learning Accounts scheme was announced in the 1997 Labour Party manifesto to support adult education with a system of tax incentives from employers, as well as a cash contribution of £150 to each of a million individuals. The system was biased towards the uptake of information technology skills, following the emergence of the Internet. Original scheme The scheme was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown in the 1999 budget and was launched in 2000 in the form of financial reimburses to educational course providers for the cost of the ILA incentives. By the time the scheme was abandoned in October 2001, there were 8,500 accredited providers nationwide. The Department for Education and Skills was investigating 279 providers on the basis of substantial evidence of misselling, and police had arrested 30 people. Prosecutions based on this fraud were still taking place in 2008. Capita was the contractor that implemented the payment scheme. Followi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Education In The United Kingdom
Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments: the UK Government is responsible for England; whilst the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are responsible for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, respectively. For details of education in each region, see: * Education in England * Education in Northern Ireland * Education in Scotland * Education in Wales The Programme for International Student Assessment coordinated by the OECD currently ranks the overall knowledge and skills of British 15-year-olds as 13th in the world in reading, literacy, mathematics, and science with the average British student scoring 503.7, compared with the OECD average of 493. In 2014, the country spent 6.6 percent of its GDP on all levels of education – 1.4 percentage points above the OECD average of 5.2 percent. In 2017, 45.7 percent of British aged ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
