FE Week Reporter | FE Week

A plea to listen to the voice of small businesses on apprenticeships

For many small firms, the thought of taking on more than one or two apprentices at once is overwhelming. But that’s no reason to ignore their views on reforms to the programme, warns John Allan. A year ago we published our apprenticeships manifesto outlining what the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) wanted to see from […]

Group to take on sex bias and a ‘shocking waste of talent’

Further education has a key role to play in promoting diversity, says Toni Fazaeli, who calls for an independent commission to report on current sector practices. Nearly 12 years after the publication of Challenging racism: further education leading the way, and six years after Niace published From compliance to culture change: Disabled staff working in […]

Small businesses find apprenticeships ‘costly but worthwhile’

Having left school at 15 to become an apprentice plumber, Charlie Mullins now sits as managing director of Pimlico Plumbers. He outlines his view of the apprenticeship system and how it should be used to tackle youth unemployment. After leaving school at the age of 15, I took on a plumbing apprenticeship and that opportunity […]

Peter Mayhew-Smith, principal, Kingston College and Carshalton College

“The trouble with me is, I reckon I’m probably one of your most boring interviewees,” Peter Mayhew-Smith tells me with an apologetic grin. “I have travelled almost zero miles in my career.” He means this literally — he was born in Teddington, just two miles away from Kingston College, across the Thames, and 10 miles […]

Quality mark ‘still on the agenda’

The government has reaffirmed its commitment to Chartered Status amid growing concern that it might have been scrapped as key implementation dates pass without any news. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) held a competition a year ago challenging students to design a logo for the planned new quality mark for high achieving […]

Colleges win budget protection from 18 funding rate cut

Colleges facing a funding rate cut for their full-time 18-year-old learners will be protected from the controversial move inflicting more than 2 per cent damage to budgets. Skills Minister Matthew Hancock has written to providers telling them the Department for Education (DfE) would cap losses resulting from the 17.5 per cent cut, due to come […]

Apprentice wage rise gets mixed welcome

The National Minimum Wage for apprentices is set to rise by 5p an-hour to £2.73, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has announced. The 2 per cent rise will come into force on October 1. The move, which was recommended by the Low Pay Commission (LPC) after the government asked how it could […]

Wait for quals cut list set to continue

Awarding bodies are facing another month’s wait to find out if their qualifications have been saved from a public funding cut after Skills Minister Matthew Hancock stepped in to ensure “niche high value qualifications are not dismissed”. Awarding bodies were invited to make cases for their qualifications to be struck from a list of qualifications […]

Shock £4m accounts black hole could lead to college fraud probe

The Skills Funding Agency is considering whether a London college should face financial investigation after a shock £4.1m black hole emerged in its books. Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College confirmed it was involved in “constructive discussions” with the agency after auditors discovered an “unexpected deficit”. A leaked internal report allegedly puts forward the possibility […]