Billy Camden | FE Week

Yorkshire colleges first to publish targets in £56m AEB pre-devolution deal

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 […]

Exclusive: IfA turns to headhunters after failing to recruit a permanent CEO

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 […]

Lords launch inquiry into the state of technical education

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 […]

Government’s new crackdown on illegally low wages for apprentices

Rogue employers who illegally underpay apprentices have been threatened with severe jail sentences, under a new government crackdown on abuses of workers’ rights. Sir David Metcalf (pictured above), the government’s new director of labour-market enforcement, today warned that the worst offenders could face prison sentences as long as two years. The crackdown comes just days after […]

Tendering launch time for Institutes of Technology revealed

Tenders for developing the government’s new Institutes of Technology have been put off until the autumn, skills and apprenticeships minister Anne Milton has revealed. She made the announcement in a letter sent to FE leaders yesterday, in which she also told them that teaching of the first T-levels would be delayed by a year to […]

T-levels crisis: DfE report warns single awarding organisation ‘unviable’

The T-levels crisis has deepened after a new report claimed Lord Sainsbury’s recommendation to have one awarding organisation per qualification would not be viable. Research on the strengths and weaknesses of the vocational qualifications market in England was released this morning by the Department for Education. In his review of technical education, which paved the […]

Minister announces T-levels delay

The first T-levels will be delayed until September 2020 – a year later than planned – the government has announced The first two pathfinder qualifications were supposed to be approved by February 2019, with teaching to commence from that September, according to England’s post-16 skills plan, published July 2016 and based on the recommendations from the […]

Ofqual to investigate DCS qualifications fraud

The country’s exams regulator has begun an investigation into “direct claim status” in an attempt to tackle qualifications malpractice in FE. Last year, Ofqual launched an inquiry into qualifications fraud in the private security sector after a sting by the BBC found staff at Ashley Commerce College, in Ilford, were prepared to sit exams for […]

Breaking: Apprenticeship pay survey exposes rise in proportion paid illegal wages

Nearly a fifth of apprentices at level two and level three are illegally paid less than the minimum wage, according to the government’s long-delayed apprenticeship pay survey. Eighteen per cent were found to be paid below the appropriate national minimum wage or national living wage (for workers aged 25 and above), up from 15 per […]