Exclusive: Ministers considering overhaul of apprenticeship funding scheme to tackle youth jobs crisis

Employers in England are to be forced to pay more to train an older worker than a youth apprentice under plans being drawn up by the government to tackle the youth jobs crisis.

The Guardian understands ministers plan to overhaul Labour’s apprenticeship funding scheme to increase the cost of training by 25% for a worker over the age of 25 in order to encourage businesses to train young people instead.

Shevaun Haviland argues PM is right to revisit Labour’s EU red lines as current trading relationship is bad for business

Repairing the economic damage of Brexit should be the top priority for Andy Burnham as he reconsiders Labour’s red lines on EU membership, the head of one of Britain’s leading business groups has said.

Shevaun Haviland, the director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said she welcomed the prime minister reopening the Brexit battle lines despite the uncertainty it could create, arguing that the UK’s current trading relationship with the EU was bad for business.

Latest data showing surprise 0.1% growth is boost to John Healey a fortnight before his first budget

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The UK economy unexpectedly continued to grow in August despite a fall in consumer spending before John Healey’s first budget as chancellor.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.1% last month, compared with 0.4% growth in July. That confounded a forecast by City economists of a 0.1% contraction.

Thinktank’s influential pre-budget report urges key decisions to be made now and not put off until next year

John Healey has been warned by Britain’s leading tax and spending experts that his budget risks being a “work of fiction” unless he sets out plans to cover £35bn in spending pressures.

As the war in the Middle East rattles the public finances, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the damage from higher inflation meant the chancellor would need to either top up funds for his current government spending plans or impose deep real-terms cuts by the end of the decade.

Exclusive: Former minister’s review warns that dramatic action is needed over huge drop in youth apprenticeship starts

A national apprenticeship readiness scheme should be introduced in England to close the gap for young people between leaving school and starting work, the government is to be told.

Alan Milburn, who is leading a major review into Britain’s youth jobs crisis, will call for a new “national pre-apprenticeship route” to offer young people further education, training and work experience.