Author: Alix Robertson

The future of the Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards (Fisss) was today uncertain with the government looking at a new system of issuing apprenticeship certificates. More than 7,500 providers and 500,000 apprentices in England, Scotland and Wales work with Fisss as it verifies that programmes have been finished successfully before handing out final […]

Ofsted has identified progress across all areas looked at in a third monitoring visit of previously-troubled Barnfield College. Inspectors were at the Luton-based college last month to review performance in a number of areas, including teaching, learning and assessment; teaching and learning of English and maths in discrete classes and within subjects; quality and accuracy of self-assessment; arrangements […]

Hull College Group has become the fifth college in England to be granted Foundation Degree Awarding Powers (DAPs), after passing Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) scrutiny and receiving approval from the Privy Council. It means the Group, which is comprised of Hull College, Harrogate College, Goole College and University Campus Scarborough, will now be able to award foundation degrees from January. […]

Government representatives today dismissed the suggestion of targets for different apprenticeship levels in the race for 3m new starts by 2020. Lord O’Neill of Gatley, commercial secretary to the Treasury (pictured above), and Small Business, Industry and Enterprise Minister Anna Soubry were challenged by the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee. The duo were quizzed […]

University Technical Colleges (UTCs) have been criticised in front of a Lords committee for stepping in where “colleges could already do the work”. In the tenth evidence session of the House of Lords committee on social mobility’s inquiry into the transition from school to work, witness Pat Brennan-Barrett, principal of Northampton College (pictured above), said […]

The Department for Education (DfE) will publish information on subcontracted student numbers for the first time at the end of this calendar year, FE Week can exclusively reveal. The total number of learners in roles from sub-contractors will be made publically available in December/January, according to a DfE spokesperson. The DfE revealed its plans in […]

Local authorities should be excluded from the large employers’ apprenticeship levy, according to proposals put forward by the Local Government Association (LGA) in response to the Enterprise Bill. In an employment and skills update paper, the LGA encouraged members to raise concerns about the levy with MPs and called on them to highlight other ways […]

The threat of strike action was today hanging over the FE sector as talks between the Association of Colleges (AoC) and the University and College Union (UCU) failed to resolve an ongoing dispute over pay. A spokesperson from the UCU told FE Week that although talks took place on Wednesday (October 28) to discuss the […]

College sector leaders will add their voices to an inquiry by the House of Lords Select Committee on Social Mobility tomorrow, discussing funding changes and how to improve employment opportunities for young people. The witnesses will help the committee explore the choices and opportunities available to young people from age 14 in the UK education […]