Author: Billy Camden

The first wave of adult education budget devolution deals are likely to be delayed beyond the planned 2018-19 delivery date because the timetable no longer seems viable for the government, an FE Week investigation has found. Over the past two years, seven combined authorities have agreed devolution deals with the Treasury, which include powers to […]

A college in Gloucester is only the second FE provider in the country to be granted powers by the Privy Council to develop and award its own honours and masters degrees. Hartpury College follows in the footsteps of NCG (formerly Newcastle College Group), which was given the power to award taught degrees last June. A […]

One of Birmingham’s largest colleges has failed a government fire safety test in the wake of the Grenfell Tower blaze. Matthew Boulton College, part of Birmingham Metropolitan College, which teaches nearly 22,000 students across the city, announced on Friday that its cladding was “not of limited combustibility”. A spokesperson said the college appreciates that the […]

The new tender for apprenticeship provision allocations for non-levy-paying employers has been launched at long last today. Hundreds of providers were left disappointed after the Department for Education paused and then ditched the first procurement process for the 98 per cent of employers not subject to the levy in April, after it was “markedly oversubscribed”. […]

The Department for Education has been accused of ignoring skills funding concerns after its international review of post-16 funding included no financial comparisons with England. The report, entitled ‘Post-16 education: funding and expenditure review’, examines funding and expenditure arrangements for vocational programmes in Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway. But funding comparisons with England […]

Two providers plummeted from ‘good’ to ‘inadequate’ after recent Ofsted inspections, in a week which has seen nearly every inspected FE and skills providers drop grades. Rotherham Borough Council and ID Training, a private provider in Newcastle upon Tyne, were both handed the lowest possible rating. ID Training was given a grade four in all […]

Colleges in West Yorkshire have agreed a “landmark” partnership with the combined authority to align their annual £56 million adult education budget provision while it waits for an official devolution deal to happen. The authority – made up of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield and York councils, and Leeds city region enterprise partnership – has […]

The Institute for Apprenticeships has failed to appoint a permanent chief executive, FE Week can reveal. A job advert for the top position at the new institute was first launched in April, with a submissions deadline date of May 22. A person for the role should have been appointed by now, but having failed to […]

The House of Lords has called for an inquiry into whether or not FE and vocational training is funded fairly. Lord Forsyth (pictured above), the chair of the economic affairs committee, is asking for written submissions to be sent in by September 14. There are a number of FE areas he is hoping to receive […]