Billy Camden | FE Week

The questions-without-answers pile up

Since June, when Anne Milton took on the brief of skills minister, we’ve had all our interview requests either ignored or rejected and questions not fully addressed or answered. In August a series of significant policies descended into chaos, from the special treatment given to Learndirect to the unfairness of the AEB tender. The minister […]

Details of new T-level tendering timeline revealed

The Department for Education is moving forward with a detailed new timetable for the implementation of T-levels, FE Week understands. A fresh schedule was laid out during a series of private briefing events, run by the DfE for awarding organisations this week. According to an FE Week source, the new timeline sets out plans for […]

Learndirect Apprenticeships tries to avoid the past with major rebrand

A firm set up by Learndirect as a separate entity to run its apprenticeships division has begun a significant rebrand as it looks to distance itself from the tarnished company that created it. Since its inception in March 2016, Learndirect Apprenticeships (LDA) – a company owned and operated by the owners of Learndirect Ltd – […]

Rayner pledges £1bn for FE to deliver T-levels

The Labour Party has pledged to invest one billion pounds to deliver T-levels, as its shadow education secretary spelt out her plans for a new National Education Service. Angela Rayner (pictured above) used her speech at the party’s annual conference in Brighton this afternoon to heap praise on the FE sector but warned that the […]

Top civil servant announced as new apprenticeships boss

A civil servant who led the Department for Education’s response to the Grenfell Tower blaze has been appointed as its new director for apprenticeships. Rory Kennedy has taken the reins from David Hill, and is now responsible for the whole apprenticeships programme, as well as a number of other important policy areas including the levy, […]

Rotherham AO investigated by regulators twice in two years

An awarding organisation is under investigation by regulators for the second time in two years after an anonymous tip-off. Ofqual was alerted in May to irregularities at Focus Awards, an AO based in Rotherham, and official inquiries began on September 11. In a statement, it said it was “currently investigating allegations made to us in […]

FE loans are broken – so what’s the fix?

Justine Greening wants to tell you about T-levels, which in truth appear to be going nowhere fast or somewhere slowly, even though the advanced learner loans system, a major technical policy from 2013, is in need of rescuing now, not by 2023. The worst thing is that the government appears to be in denial as […]

ESFA breaks its promise to audit untested providers

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has missed its own deadline to make sure new providers approved to deliver apprenticeships are up to scratch. Even though its programme director outlined the checks and balances the ESFA was planning for untested firms on the register of apprenticeship training providers in June, FE Week has learned that […]

NHS ‘reviews’ Learndirect Apprenticeships’ status as a provider

An apprenticeship provider created by the owners of Learndirect last year could be kicked off the purchasing system used by London hospitals, after a joint investigation by FE Week and The Financial Times found multiple irregularities in a tender application. In one recent bid to deliver apprenticeships at a London hospital, Learndirect Apprenticeships (LDA), a company […]