Author: Billy Camden

Damian Hinds has said he would “not blame colleges at all” in the way that Amanda Spielman did for putting students on courses such as arts and media which have slim job prospects. The chief inspector told the Association of Colleges conference last month that there is a “mismatch” between the numbers of students taking […]

The government is going to build a “new generation” of higher technical qualifications at levels 4 and 5 for T-level students to progress onto, the education secretary will announce today. A consultation on the qualifications, which will be an alternative to degrees and apprenticeships for mostly 18-year-olds, will be launched early next year with an […]

The programmes to be taught in wave two of the government’s T-level roll-out will be announced by the education secretary today. Qualifications in health, healthcare science, science, onsite construction, building services engineering, digital support and services and digital business services are to be taught from 2021. Damian Hinds is also going to reveal that T-levels […]

Even as the fallout from Carillion’s collapse engrossed the nation, another outsourcing giant which trains over 5,000 apprentices also had financial concerns highlighted. Interserve, an international support services and construction group which runs a large UK training provider called Interserve Learning and Employment Ltd, employs over 80,000 staff worldwide and has an annual turnover of […]

The Institute for Apprenticeships has been criticised for refusing to publicly share a presentation given to employers about a worrying imminent apprenticeship overspend. Gordon Marsden, the shadow skills minister, described the latest example of a lack of transparency at the institute as “disappointing” and has said he will write to the government agency demanding its […]

The funding bands for a further 30 apprenticeship standards have gone up for review today. The new list (see table below), revealed by the Institute for Apprenticeships on its website, includes two standards currently set at £27,000 – the maximum upper limit, meaning their rates can only fall. The institute expects the full review to […]

A major new apprenticeship provider has gone bust following a scathing Ofsted monitoring report which found its directors were claiming funding for delivering little to no training. FE Week understands the company, AMS Nationwide Ltd, had its contracts terminated by the Education and Skills Funding Agency when the findings were revealed to officials. The private […]

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has paid a further quarter of a million pounds to a firm that had its training contracts terminated following an undercover FE Week investigation. Talent Training, which was based in South Tyneside and claimed to have £130 million of apprenticeship levy business, was caught offering banned inducements in the […]