News

Cost of Digital Apprenticeship Service revealed

The government expects to spend at least £12.5m on delivering its new Digital Apprenticeship Service, FE Week can reveal….

Alix Robertson
Alix Robertson
News

Special Westminster debate on apprenticeship cuts tomorrow

A special Westminster Hall debate called by campaigning MP David Lammy into FE Week’s exclusive revelations on apprenticeship funding…

Paul Offord
Paul Offord
News

Dip in higher-level courses holding up loan growth requests

The delay in advance learner loans is not down to a lack of resources, but has come about because…

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
News

Colleges warned off overseas ventures following collapse of AoC India after just four years

Colleges should be wary of betting the farm on big overseas ventures and learn the lesson from AoC India,…

Alix Robertson
Alix Robertson
News

Insufficient progress for inadequate college

A college that nose-dived from ‘outstanding’ to ‘inadequate’ in March has been slammed by Ofsted again for making insufficient…

Alix Robertson
Alix Robertson
News

DfE bailing out colleges

The government has announced new rules which will allow it to repeatedly bail out failing colleges that go bust,…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke


News

Jaguar Land Rover red-faced by ‘poor’ Ofsted rating

Jaguar Land Rover, the British car manufacturer regularly lauded by ministers for its apprenticeship scheme, has been hit with…

Jude Burke
Jude Burke
News

Editor Asks: Apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon on government u-turn on funding cuts

As it turned out, my exclusive interview with the new apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon was conducted just hours after…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Rise in SFA contracts for small providers

Plans to cut the number of recipients of Skills Funding Agency cash have been shelved in an attempt to increase the…

Alix Robertson
Alix Robertson
News

You’re fired! Lord Sugar could cut ties with DfE over apprentice champion role

The entrepreneur Lord Alan Sugar could be about to quit his role as the country’s apprenticeships champion after receiving…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Apprenticeship funding ‘u-turn’ – but how far does it really go?

Despite the very public “U-turn” the government made on proposed apprenticeship cuts on Tuesday, funding is still due to…

Nick Linford
Nick Linford
News

Insolvency regime plans in new Technical and Further Education Bill

A new Technical and Further Education Bill published today has set out proposals for a new insolvency regime for FE colleges….

Paul Offord
Paul Offord

Must read

Colleges, Long read

Colleges on the frontline of a divided nation

As social media algorithms fuel intolerance and binary thinking, college staff increasingly find themselves dealing with the fallout. Jessica…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Colleges, Long read

Alun Francis, chair of the Social Mobility Commission

Deprived areas need vision – not victimhood – to level up, and Social Mobility Commission chair Alun Francis is…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Long read, Prison education

The prison that’s offering hope for a new life upon release

‘We’re saving people’s lives as well as turning them around’

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Apprenticeships, Politics

Phillipson to exempt young people from level 7 apprenticeships funding axe

Education secretary makes ‘important concession’ amid backlash from other government departments

Billy Camden
Billy Camden
Colleges, FE Commissioner

Weston chair felt powerless over £2.5m payments to former principal

Ex-Weston college chair gives tell-all interview following FE Commissioner probe

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
Colleges

Weston College governance failure allowed ‘concealment’ of £2.5m payments to former principal

Paul Phillips was paid £1.8m in 2023, including a ‘significant’ six-figure retention payment which his COO son ‘resisted’ paying…

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel