Author: Billy Camden

Accusations of exam malpractice helped sealed the fate of a doomed studio school, according to “shocking” new board minutes. Documents from the Manchester Creative Studio, shown to FE Week, also reveal that former trustees retained access to the school’s bank account months after they left, and that staff were not given contracts until this academic […]

A “major” independent commission on lifelong learning has been launched by Vince Cable. The commission is designed to investigate the “best ways” to make sure adults have “access to learning and retraining throughout their lives”. It will consider “bold ideas” such as individual learning accounts, which “could offer adults a pot of money to be […]

The apprenticeship levy will generate £900 million less funding in its first four years than the government first claimed, according to economic forecasters. A new “economic and fiscal outlook” report from the Office for Budget Responsibility estimates the tax will accumulate £10.7 billion by early 2021. This represents a major downgrade – of £900 million, […]

The government needs to get a grip on the “outrageous and unjustifiable” subcontracting market which has become a “money-maker” for training providers, a panel of FE experts has urged MPs. Robert Halfon (pictured above), the chair of the education select committee, asked witnesses during a parliamentary hearing this morning about the extent the delivery model, […]

Employers should not be handed the keys to the National Retraining Scheme if the government is serious about supporting the millions of older people who need it most, according to a former senior skills civil servant. Instead, the new initiative should focus on the skills needs of people rather than those of employers, insists Dr […]

Nine training providers nearly missed out on almost £8 million of non-levy funding because officials mismarked their bids in the recent tender. FE Week understands that the money was almost held back because the ESFA had drafted in inexperienced assessors to mark the complex submissions. A Freedom of Information request showed that of all the […]

Barnfield College has suspended its recruitment of new apprentices, after it received an ‘inadequate’ rating for this provision from Ofsted this week. The college’s inspection report was published on March 7 and rated it ‘requires improvement’ overall, but the lowest possible mark was given for apprenticeships. Providers who get a grade four in this provision […]

Thirteen organisations, including a Welsh college and the furniture retail giant DFS, have been unexpectedly added to the register of apprenticeship training providers. The third and most recent window of opportunity to get on to RoATP closed at the end of October, with results published in January, and it has not officially reopened since. These […]