Daily roundup 31 January: Apprenticeships, asylum seekers, and enterprise advisers

Government efforts to rapidly increase the number of apprentices risks being "poor value for money", the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned. The BBC reports that the think-tank said it could devalue the "brand" of apprenticeships by turning it into "just another term for training".


Campaigners have raised new concerns about the plight of the children of asylum seekers and refugees in Scotland following a huge rise in numbers needing poverty support. The Herald reports that statistics released by the Refugee Survival Trust show that some 307 children were supported by their destitution grants over the nine months to December, 2016 - 84 more than for the whole of 2015/16.


Half of all schools and colleges in England will be supported by an enterprise adviser by the end the year, the Careers & Enterprise Company has announced. The organisation said a third of schools and colleges in the country are currently matched with an enterprise adviser - senior business volunteers connecting more than 1,300 schools and colleges with other local businesses to help them develop their careers and enterprise plans.


The first-ever school governors' "strike" is being threatened in the escalating dispute over spending cuts. The BBC reports that school governors in West Sussex are writing to MPs to warn them they will refuse to sign off budgets or carry out their supervisory work. They are backing local head teachers who have warned they might have to cut school hours because of cash shortages.


All five of London's Premier League clubs are now caught up in hundreds of historic sexual abuse claims. The Daily Mail reports that The Metropolitan Police Metropolitan Police are investigating individuals connected with 77 clubs or teams in the capital. As well as five Premier League clubs, there are three Championship clubs, three clubs in League One and League Two and 66 other named clubs which would include non-league or non-professional or amateur teams.