Author: Billy Camden

A scandal involving one of the country’s biggest apprenticeship providers has engrossed the sector ever since the turn of this academic year – but details on exactly what caused it have been few and far between. FE Week can now reveal just why Aspire Achieve Advance, better known as 3aaa, which had around 4,500 learners […]

Concern over thousands of apprentices without a regulator responsible for checking the quality of their training is being reviewed by the National Audit Office. FE Week revealed last week that providers who deliver level 6 and 7 apprenticeships that have no prescribed HE qualification, such as a degree, and are not on the Office for […]

The Sixth Form Colleges Association is urging the government to keep the option for its members to convert to academy status open indefinitely, as the “arbitrary” deadline for doing so fast approaches. Becoming an academy, and in doing so enjoying the luxury of not paying VAT, has been a possibility for nearly all SFCs since […]

Both Ofsted and the government are looking into a mysterious training provider after FE Week revealed it has secured multi-million-pound subcontracting deals despite employing fewer than 10 staff, it is understood. SCL Security Ltd, a private provider based in Kent that is run by Andrew Merritt, has taken £16.5 million from Brooklands College over the […]

Almost two thirds of university technical colleges overestimated their student numbers last year and will have to repay funding to the government, with five owing more than half a million pounds each. A freedom of information request has revealed that a total of 30 of the 49 UTCs which are still open drastically misjudged their […]

Five struggling colleges have been hit with a notice to improve by the government this morning, after they were all assessed to have “inadequate” financial health. Three of the warning notices have been dished out to North Hertfordshire College, Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College, and Coulsdon Sixth Form College after they requested an unspecified […]

The government has been urged to commission an independent review into whether the Careers and Enterprise Company is doing a good job helping poorer students get work experience. The Commons youth select committee, run by the British Youth Council charity, has also said Ofsted should inspect provision that is funded by the CEC to check […]

The government has confirmed there are thousands of apprentices with no organisation responsible for checking the quality of their training – but has committed to fixing the issue following revelations by FE Week. However, a solution might not be found for some time as its proposed regulator, the Office for Students, has said no arrangement […]

A provider has been slammed with a grade four after Ofsted found its 500 learners received “no teaching” and some were “not aware” they had taken out an advanced learner loan. Harrow-based Academy Training Group was branded ‘inadequate’ across the board in its first ever inspection, published today, which claimed the provider has “no strengths” […]