Author: Billy Camden

The national retraining scheme has taken another step forward after the government began searching for “partnerships” to design and test 12 week courses for adults that lead to “guaranteed” job interviews. A Department for Education tender has gone out for groups of employers, providers and local authorities to deliver “a new training model” initially in […]

Staff cuts to the Education and Skills Funding Agency have been a key factor in their failure to spot early signs of college weaknesses, the long-awaited independent report into oversight of college finances has found. Dame Mary Ney was commissioned by former skills minister Anne Milton in August 2019 to conduct a review after the […]

Special measures that have led to more than 100 apprenticeship standards gaining permission to carry out end-point assessments remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic will be retained into the new year. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s chief executive Jennifer Coupland announced today that the flexibilities will continue until at least the start of 2021. […]

Dame Mary Ney’s report into college financial oversight exposes a “decade of austerity” and a lack of ministerial awareness of the financial crisis “engulfing” the FE sector, Labour’s shadow apprenticeships minister has said. Toby Perkins added that the failure in oversight has been “exacerbated by the Tory cuts to the civil service”. He was responding […]

The apprenticeship funding rules for the 2020/21 academic year have finally been published by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. They outline eligibility rules for the new employer incentives, which were revealed by the agency yesterday, and include the latest details on temporary flexibilities that are available in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. You can […]

The education watchdog Ofsted has published its corporate annual report and accounts, which give an update on the inspectorate’s performance as an organisation throughout 2019-20. The document is not to be confused with its official annual report, which is a report to parliament on its inspection activity, and is normally released in the winter. Here […]

The government has committed to building “stronger” relationships with colleges, including increased dialogue with all college boards from September. New whistle-blowing requirements will also be imposed on colleges, and there will be “strengthened” alignment between the FE Commissioner and the Education and Skills Funding Agency, according to skills minister Gillian Keegan. It comes after Dame […]

The number of apprentices that small employers can start through the digital apprenticeship service will increase from three to 10 from tomorrow, the government has announced. This cap will be in place for the remainder of the 2020-21 financial year, as from April 2021 the Education and Skills Funding Agency plans for all starts to […]

A new public awareness campaign to boost the popularity of higher technical education is to be launched by government as ministers confirm plans for “major” reform in this area. As first announced by former education secretary Damian Hinds in 2018, the Department for Education is planning to overhaul qualifications at levels 4 and 5. Following […]