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26 April 2026

Author: FE Week Reporter

Dick Palmer, CEO, Transforming Education in Norfolk

Dick Palmer had a dream shared by many teenage boys: to become a professional footballer. And it was within his reach until his father shared a few “wise words” and told the young Palmer that he “was to complete his education and go to university”. Palmer, 58, grew up in the small town of Brecon […]

Why colleges should be allowed to be creative to meet local needs

The chances of the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) agreeing to 50 per cent flexibility in adult skills budgets were very low — but if you don’t ask you don’t get, says Lady Sharp. The idea of the Innovation Code put forward in our report The Dynamic Nucleus – Colleges at the Heart of Local Communities, […]

Provider challenges new-look inspection

One of the first Ofsted inspections under the new common inspection framework is to be disputed. Merseyside-based Central Training, which bills itself as one of the UK’s largest providers of vocational training and education, was inspected over five days from September 17. The company, which is made up of sports, skills, business and fitness divisions, […]

Cash boost on out-of-favour qualifications

Funding for a host of politically unpopular workplace qualifications is set to rise, with payments for one course rocketing 508 per cent. Click here for the list. Payments for more than 1,100 workplace qualifications (formerly known as Train to Gain) will rise this month as the Skills Funding Agency aims to simplify an “overly complicated” […]

At last, a report written by people who understand FE

The clear recommendations of the Lingfield report reflect the complexity of the sector, says Lynne Sedgmore, executive director at the 157 Group. Shame about the blip on 14-18 education… The final report of the independent review panel into professionalism in FE — the Lingfield report — deserves to be widely and carefully read. Unlike many […]

SFA ‘assured’ over Elmfield payments

A system of payments from the provider behind the UK’s biggest apprenticeship programme to the firm whose staff it trains has been given the green light by the Skills Funding Agency. Elmfield Training, which was allocated £41m by the agency for the current academic year, has previously defended the payments to giant supermarket chain Morrisons, […]

Apprenticeship highs and lows

Apprentice numbers in engineering and construction have plummeted while management apprenticeships have rocketed 45 per cent. Engineering, based on provisional figures for the full 2011/12 year, fell 30 per cent to 12,890, while construction dropped 18 per cent to 12,850. Their high points, respectively, were 20,700 apprenticeship starts in 2006/07 and 18,330 in 2010/11. The […]

Heseltine questions funding agency’s future

A wide-ranging report from the Tory grandee Lord Heseltine (right) questions the role of the Skills Funding Agency, instead calling for devolved powers and funding to be handed to regions through local enterprise partnerships. The former deputy prime minister suggests that almost £48bn of government cash in different Whitehall departments should be placed in a […]