Author: Billy Camden

A college embroiled in an expenses scandal has appointed an experienced FE leader as its interim principal. Penny Wycherley (pictured) will take over Stella Mbubaegbu’s responsibilities as principal at Highbury College from today after the latter was suspended last month. It follows intervention from the FE Commissioner, who recently moved Highbury into “supervised college status”. […]

While the Conservatives’ manifesto published on Sunday had some eye-catching FE pledges, including a new £3 billion national skills fund and £1.8 billion for college capital, there were some notable omissions. FE Week chief reporter Billy Camden has taken education secretary Gavin Williamson to task on the areas his party appeared to dodge.   The […]

Serious safeguarding failures at a multi-site “college” are to be exposed in an imminent Ofsted report, FE Week can reveal. City College Nottingham, a private training provider with campuses across the Midlands, is bracing itself for the publication of a grade-four report. It has already laid off staff and stopped taking on new enrolments. Inspectors […]

A training provider has handed back an adult education budget (AEB) contract of almost £2 million after Ofsted criticised it for the second time this year. Total Training Company (UK) Limited was declared “inadequate” in its first full inspection last week. It was found to be making “insufficient progress” in an early monitoring report in February. […]

The Confederation of British Industry has urged the government not to restrict how the apprenticeship levy is spent in the face of opposition from nearly eight in ten businesses. Limits on age, income or level of training would make 78 per cent of 208 businesses and trade associations surveyed for the 2019 CBI and Pearson […]

A new provider that has more than 300 apprentices on its books has been criticised by Ofsted for “unreliable” recording of off-the-job training. Rapid Improvement Limited, which was founded in 2007 but gained a direct apprenticeships contract in December 2017, was found making ‘insufficient progress’ in two areas of its first monitoring visit from the […]

Two unions have reached a deal to bargain over pay and working conditions on behalf of the almost 300 staff at a college group-owned private training provider. A “recognition agreement” has been signed today by Total People and the University and College Union and Unison. Part of the LTE group, which also encompasses The Manchester […]

A rail specialist firm has been chosen as the new external quality assurance provider for care apprenticeships, in a move backed by the standards’ trailblazer group. Skills for Care announced in August that it had quit the role and would no longer do the EQA of end-point assessment for the level two adult care worker […]