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SFA apprentice chief tells lords of employer worries

Skills Funding Agency (SFA) apprenticeships boss Sue Husband (pictured) has emphasised the need for employer involvement in standards but acknowledged concerns about “onerous” extra work for businesses. Ms Husband, the SFA’s director for apprenticeships and delivery, appeared in front of Lords on a digital skills committee last week. In response to a question about employer […]

FE Commissioner gets five ex-principal advisers

These are the five former principals and one ex-vice principal that make up the new intake of advisers for FE Commissioner Dr David Collins (pictured front), FE Week can reveal. Phil Frier, Dr Beri Hare, John Hogg, Steve Hutchinson, Chris Jones and Lynne Craig have won posts at the commissioner’s office. Their appointments take the […]

Clegg’s UCas-style 16 to 18 plan ‘already in place’

Government plans to launch a UCas-style vocational database by September next year have been short shrift by the boss of UCas itself. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg (pictured left) told visitors to the Skills Show, at Birmingham NEC, that the government would set up a “fully-comprehensive national database” of 16 to 18 skills and employer […]

Sixth form college falls two grades to inadequate

Hartlepool Sixth Form College has crashed from a good to inadequate Ofsted rating. It received a grade two rating in June 2010, but a report published on Thursday (November 13), based on an inspection in September, gave it the lowest possible mark. The report said “too few students stay to complete AS courses or progress […]

Confederation ends after a year

The Gateshead and Middlesbrough College Confederation has been terminated after just 12 months. The two colleges came together in September last year to pool resources and ideas, but are now preparing to split after governors decided the partnership did not “offer additional value to learners”. The move casts doubt over the future of confederation chief […]

Chief defends £93k Activate Learning rebrand

The chief executive of a college group under fire for a £93,000 rebrand has defended the spend. A Freedom of Information request by the Oxford Mail revealed that Activate Learning forked out £93,742 over the last two years on a rebranding exercise to move away from the previous name of Oxford and Cherwell Valley College […]

Party differences on FE and skills prove difficult to spot

Association of Colleges (AoC) chief executive Martin Doel took time out from his preparations for the AoC annual conference in Birmingham to speak to FE Week editor Chris Henwood. He talked about his thoughts on the political parties in the run-up to the general election next year and also answered questions on a range of […]

1,000 apprentices at Aldi

Discount supermarket Aldi has revealed plans to create up to 1,000 apprenticeships as it looks to double its high street presence in the UK. The German chain announced last week it was planning to double its UK store numbers to 1,000, creating up to 35,000 new jobs — around 1,000 of which would be apprenticeships, […]