Author: Billy Camden

The husband of the chief executive at a college surviving on bailout funding used the marketing budget to hire the 80-piece Hull Philharmonic Orchestra to play computer-game music, FE Week can reveal. As previously reported, Hull College Group has launched an independent investigation into allegations of nepotism and misuse of funding and its boss, Michelle […]

The government has written to a new training firm demanding it stops claiming to high-profile employers it can deliver apprenticeships. Thomas Cook Airlines and a McDonald’s franchise are among those to have had approaches from Apprenticeship Partners, which was set up by David Montague and Jane Simpson in August (pictured above). Emails from Montague to […]

West Kent and Ashford College has scored well in its first Ofsted monitoring visit since it went into administration, in what was a mixed week for FE providers. The college, which followed its sister college Hadlow to become the second provider to fall under the new insolvency regime in August, received ‘reasonable progress’ ratings across […]

Apprentices are struggling to raise concerns about poor training, the Department for Education has found, while their tool allowing learners to give feedback is stuck in development. An internal ‘Discovery’ project is currently being run by the DfE, which has asked apprentices what they consider “most important for successful completion and what drives their satisfaction”. […]

A former adviser to the minister for higher education has expressed “concern” that dozens of providers delivering level 6 and 7 apprenticeships are still going without inspection more than four years after the courses began. In June the Office for Students was given responsibility for overseeing this provision at all training firms, even if they […]

A college fighting for survival is considering selling a historic building, FE Week understands. Brooklands College is in severe financial trouble after getting caught up in an apprenticeship subcontracting scandal which has resulted in the government demanding it returns £20 million. In an effort to save itself from going insolvent, the college is trying to […]

Staff at a college embroiled in a bitter contracts row have delivered a vote of no confidence in their chief executive and chair of governors. At a meeting last night, around 110 members of the University and College Union unanimously backed the motion which said the “continued mismanagement” by Nottingham College’s top leaders has “caused […]

Ofqual is proposing to change how it punishes awarding organisations who are non-compliant with new “public rebukes” and fixed penalty notices for those that flout regulations. The exams regulator has launched a consultation to update its Taking Regulatory Action (TRA) policy, which was first published in 2011 and was last revised in 2012. Currently, awarding […]

Nottingham College will be hit with yet more “unprecedented” strikes next month after staff accused their leaders of reneging on promises over workload. Members of the University and College Union will take to the picket lines for another 14 days after the next half-term. The action has been announced after staff entered their fourth week […]