Author: Alix Robertson

A group of specialist colleges say there is a conflict of interest over devolving high needs funding to “compromised” local authorities and are calling on the government to step in. Members of the Association of National Specialist Colleges (Natspec), at their annual conference in Birmingham this week, said the conflict of interest had arisen because […]

Two providers have been forced to step in to support students after a training and education charity went into administration due to funding difficulties. Learning South West, which worked with leaders and practitioners in both youth and education and training organisations, was based in Taunton, Somerset. A spokesperson for accountancy firm Mazars said Tim Ball, […]

The National Union of Students has voted to keep its vice president for FE for a second term. Shakira Martin, the NUS’ outspoken vice president for FE, will keep her role for another term after succeeding in an election at the NUS’ national conference 2016 in Brighton today. She was uncontested for the post and was […]

The chairs of the Business, Innovation and Skills and Public Accounts Committees have demanded to see key government documents relating to the cost of controversial planned closure of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Sheffield office. The call was made in a letter sent today to Martin Donnelly, permanent Secretary at the Department for […]

The government has today announced the employer time limit on using their levy funds, due for introduction in April 2017. The news came in an updated guide to the apprenticeship levy and “how it will work” web page, published this afternoon. An apprenticeship levy operating guide for employers, to be published in April, had been promised in last month’s budget. The […]

The Government has admitted to missing its target to recruit 300 ‘volunteer enterprise advisers’ by the end of March this year, with 127 places yet to be filled. In a response to a parliamentary written question about the government’s careers initiatives, it was revealed that the Department for Education (DfE) currently has just 173 (or […]

The Association of Colleges (AoC) has announced Ian Ashman, principal of Hackney Community College, as its President-elect. Mr Ashman will take over from current president John Widdowson on August 1. Having begun his career in FE in 1993, Mr Ashman has held a range of college posts across London, and has been a principal for over […]

An advert has appeared on a government website for an apprenticeship vacancy with Tata Steel — even though the troubled firm wants to sell-off all its UK operations. It was posted on the gov.uk ‘Find an apprenticeship’ site four days ago, inviting applications for a four-year advanced level course starting in May this year. Yet […]