Author: Billy Camden

A provider that received over £16 million in three years from college subcontracting deals has been exposed by Ofsted for delivering ‘insufficient’ apprenticeships which exclude employers and lack scrutiny. FE Week revealed in November the mysterious way in which SCL Security Ltd has operated as a subcontractor for many years, delivering hundreds of apprenticeships for […]

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education is to start charging for its apprenticeship external quality assurance service. News of the move comes just days after FE Week revealed the “ridiculous variability” in approved external quality assurance charges, which were criticised by sector leaders for ranging from a free service to £179 per apprentice. The […]

Leaders of a studio school in Liverpool are “strongly considering” closing their institution next year, after poor recruitment affected its financial viability. Studio@Deyes has a capacity of 300 but just 196 students, and accounts show it ended the last academic year with a deficit of almost £600,000. Twenty-one studio schools have closed to-date, and a […]

A cross-party letter has been signed by 164 MPs and handed to the chancellor demanding an above inflation increase to FE funding in the upcoming spending review. Co-authored by Conservative MP Richard Graham and Labour MP Nic Dakin, the letter tells Phillip Hammond that “while government policy has protected the incomes of schools and universities, […]

Around £470 million has now been allocated by the government to cover the costs of implementing post-area review changes for colleges. The figure, which is 65 per cent of the £726 million on offer, was revealed in the latest Education and Skills Funding Agency progress report on the restructuring facility, which closed in September. It […]

GCSEs and A-levels should be scrapped and replaced with one “holistic baccalaureate” for 18-year-olds which recognises academic and technical skills and personal development, a senior Conservative MP has said. Robert Halfon, a former skills minister who chairs the parliamentary education committee, wants to mimic the international baccalaureate, which requires students to sit subjects from six […]

A fresh 10-day standstill period has been issued by the Education and Skills Funding Agency for European Social Fund contracts in some areas after it admitted to making an “error” in its tender. FE Week revealed last week that multiple providers alleged that the government broke tender rules in the procurement that is worth £282 […]

Training providers’ non-levy funding is running dry and some are even having to turn apprentices away – but the government can’t offer more cash as it doesn’t have any left in the system. The unprecedented issue, which one sector leader has described as “market failure”, comes just weeks after the Department for Education launched a […]

Sector leaders have hit out at the “ridiculous variability” in approved external quality assurance charges, ranging from a free service to a whopping £179 per apprentice. There are currently 18 approved external quality assurance (EQA) bodies that monitor end-point assessment organisations, to ensure the process is “fair, consistent and robust”. The EQA bodies are allowed […]