Billy Camden | FE Week

Cabinet Office blocked T-level ads during lockdown

The Cabinet Office blocked the Department for Education from promoting T-levels during the Covid-19 pandemic, despite first delivery of the new qualifications being just months away. The decision to “turn off” advertising, which one communications expert for the FE sector said “doesn’t make sense”, was revealed in an updated “major projects portfolio” published today by […]

Treasury took back £330m of apprenticeships funding in 19-20

The Department for Education quietly handed back £330 million of the 2019-20 apprenticeships budget to the Treasury, FE Week can reveal. The admission comes despite concerns that small employers had struggled to find providers with sufficient non-levy funds to train their apprentices, with some being turned away. Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of […]

New Ofsted chair announced

A former chief inspector for the Independent Schools Inspectorate has been appointed as Ofsted’s next chair. Dame Christine Ryan will replace Professor Julius Weinberg from August 1, education secretary Gavin Williamson announced today. He said Ryan brings a “wealth of experience in the education sector to her new role”. “I am confident that alongside chief […]

Providers ‘seriously concerned’ that Kickstart will displace apprenticeships

Training providers are “seriously concerned” that wage subsidies as part of the new £2.5 billion Kickstart scheme will displace apprenticeship starts for young people. Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday that the government will pay the wages of “hundreds of thousands” of people aged 16 to 24 who are claiming Universal Credit to take newly […]

ESFA director of funding poached by Cabinet Office

The Education and Skills Funding Agency’s first overall director of funding – appointed just last year to oversee a new ‘centre of excellence’ – has been poached by the Cabinet Office. Kate Josephs will leave the ESFA to take up a director general role in the Cabinet Office to deal with the government’s Covid-19 response. […]

Disappointing: Sunak’s skills package dodges the issues

The measures announced this week by the chancellor fail to address the key skills challenges the government faces, writes Toby Perkins The scale of the threat to our crucial apprenticeship and FE sector is severe. The Association of Employment and Learning Providers warns that learning providers could close their doors, with FE colleges consulting on […]

Gavin Williamson’s speech on FE reform: The full text

Hello. It is a great pleasure to be here with you today and I’d like to thank not only the Social Market Foundation for hosting this, but also you for joining me. We have all been busy, in different ways, dealing with the impact of COVID-19. The way people live, the jobs people have, in […]

Coronavirus jobs plan must support quality training and be more than a gangplank to the dole

We need to avoid a fiasco of schemes like Train to Gain when rolling out the Covid-19 jobs and skills rescue plan, writes Tom Bewick The Chancellor of Exchequer has announced the latest coronavirus jobs plan. Like the ambitious furlough scheme, the Treasury is willing to pledge big interventions to help stave off a potential […]

Government to reveal plans this autumn to create an employer led ‘German-style’ FE system

Education secretary Gavin Williamson will today pledge that the upcoming White Paper for further education will lead to a reformed “world-class, German-style” system. In a speech hosted by the Social Market Foundation, Williamson will say that “for decades, we have failed to give FE the investment it deserves” as he “tears up” the symbolic target […]