Author: Billy Camden

The bosses of two colleges located just 10 miles apart have been awarded CBEs in the Queen’s new year’s honours list. Judith Doyle, the principal of Gateshead College, and Dr Lindsey Whiterod, the chief executive of Tyne Coast College (formerly South Tyneside College), were recognised with one of the highest accolades awarded in the list […]

The architect of the apprenticeship levy gives his own account of how this landmark policy was brought to fruition, and explains just how much of a “big and risky” move it was. In an interview with the Institute for Government think-tank, the former skills minister Nick Boles revealed that his boss at the time, the […]

A man who spent decades spearheading the fight to raise the profile of adult learning has been knighted in the Queen’s New Year honours list. Alan Tuckett, who led the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education for 23 years and became known as FE’s “campaigner-in-chief” for lifelong learning, has been recognised with the prestigious accolade […]

The ESFA is extending the non-levy tender’s 10-day standstill period to December 28, meaning no contracts will be given to successful providers next week, FE Week understands. Results of the procurement, which has frustrated the sector all year after being plagued with delays and an aborted first attempt, were finally released on December 7. The […]

An organisation that went out of business two months ago has been awarded a contract in the non-levy tender – even while several high-profile colleges ranked ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ missed out. PTM Group, which incorporated in May 2015 but has never held its own direct contract with the ESFA to deliver apprenticeships, last week became […]

Two ‘inadequate’ training providers in Essex are making “reasonable progress” in improving their grades, but still have a long way to go in pulling themselves away from Ofsted’s lowest possible rating. In what was a quiet week for FE inspections, Epping Forest College and Essex County Council each had their third monitoring visit reports published […]

The National Audit Office has today published its report into the circumstances surrounding the monitoring, inspection and funding of Learndirect. The nation’s biggest FE provider was given an ‘inadequate’ rating by Ofsted in a report published in August, and the government offered it special treatment by allowing it to retain its contracts for almost a […]

Learndirect’s multimillion-pound contract to deliver the Home Office’s Life in the UK test is to be put out to tender for a “new” provider, FE Week can reveal. The nation’s biggest FE provider has since November 2014 held the contract to operate the tests, which are a crucial component for obtaining British citizenship, on behalf […]

The public accounts committee has scheduled a hearing to review the Learndirect saga on January 15 in the New Year, FE Week understands. The meeting will dissect the findings of tomorrow’s National Audit Office report, which was called for by the PAC’s chair, Meg Hillier (pictured above), and looks into the circumstances surrounding the monitoring, […]