Billy Camden

  • New Learndirect owner wins £20m in ESFA contracts

    Learndirect has started to win government funding to deliver skills training again, after its new owner secured more than £20 million worth of European Social Fund contracts. FE Week understands that the nation’s former largest FE provider won the funding, which is used to deliver employment and skills support to disadvantaged people, in four different…

    16.37 Jan. 21st, 2019 | News

  • Top-performing college owed £500k pulls out of Saudi Arabia programme

    A college has terminated its contract with the controversial Saudi Arabian Colleges of Excellence programme due to “on-going delays” in receiving payments resulting in an alleged £500,000 debt. Dudley College, rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, began work with the Saudi government in 2011 and has taken part in various ventures in the country over the last…

    16.50 Jan. 18th, 2019 | News

  • IfA boss refuses to say whether he wants to remain in post as DfE forced to re-advertise role

    The Institute for Apprenticeships will re-advertise for a new chief executive in the coming months, but its current boss has remained tight-lipped over his future. Sir Gerry Berragan took the top job at the IfA in November 2017 and later revealed to FE Week that he was only contracted for two years because he did…

    9.54 Jan. 18th, 2019 | News

  • College hiding principal's expenses 'skirting with possible criminal offence'

    A college which “shocked” the skills minister this week after it blocked FE Week’s website from its internet servers has been reported to the information commissioner’s office for hiding corporate expense claims. The repeated refusal by Highbury College to release the material, which was requested by this newspaper under the freedom of information act, is…

    12.15 Jan. 18th, 2019 | News

  • Principal 'not right' for next stage of college journey given £150k payment

    The principal of a college group who stepped down with immediate effect last year after concluding he was no longer the “right person” to lead it received a payment of £150,000 when he left. The “emolument” to John Connolly, who led the RNN Group until his resignation in mid-October, was “in lieu of notice, entitled…

    10.35 Jan. 18th, 2019 | News

  • Minister ‘shocked’ by college decision to block access to FE Week

    A college that was subject to an FE Week investigation has blocked this newspaper’s website from its internet servers – an action which has “absolutely shocked” the skills minister and “astonished” Ofsted’s chief inspector. FE Week revealed on Friday that Highbury College was locked in a £1.4 million legal battle with the Nigerian state. The…

    17.31 Jan. 16th, 2019 | News

  • Provider rated ‘inadequate’ after Ofsted found low employment for arts and media students

    A private provider is appealing an ‘inadequate’ report after Ofsted criticised it for not moving enough of its arts and media students onto jobs at the end of their training. The judgement comes after the chief inspector caused a media storm when she told the Association of Colleges conference in November that there is a…

    18.30 Jan. 16th, 2019 | News

  • IfA finally releases apprenticeship overspend presentation

    The Institute for Apprenticeships has finally released a presentation given to employers that warned of an imminent apprenticeship overspend, following pressure from the shadow skills minister. On November 30 during an employer engagement event at Exeter College the IfA’s chief operating officer Robert Nitsch included a forecast of a £500 million overspend on the apprenticeship…

    12.53 Jan. 16th, 2019 | News

  • Anne Milton: Sixth Form Colleges Association winter conference 2019 speech in full

    The skills minister Anne Milton delivered a keynote speech to the Sixth Form Colleges Association winter conference this morning, in which she spoke about the Raise the Rate campaign among other hot topics in FE. Here’s her planned speech in full.   Thank you Bill for that kind introduction and for inviting me back this…

    10.16 Jan. 16th, 2019 | News

  • ESFA seeks training providers to deliver T-levels from 2021

    Training providers can now bid to deliver T-levels in the second year of their rollout, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has announced. Guidance, published today, invites expressions of interest from providers who want to deliver the new technical qualifications in 2021/22, and sets out the criteria they will need to meet. The ESFA has…

    9.29 Jan. 16th, 2019 | News

  • DfE launches consultation on plans to fund £80m college pension contribution increase

    The Department for Education is consulting on plans to provide extra funding to cover the estimated £80 million rise in pension contributions for FE colleges in 2019-20. It was announced last year that the amount colleges and other public-funded FE training providers must contribute to staff pensions is to rise from the current rate of…

    10.41 Jan. 15th, 2019 | News