Author: Fraser Whieldon

Training providers are “having to turn their backs” on up to 40,000 small businesses due to the shortfall in apprenticeship levy funds. According to the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), two-fifths of 135 apprenticeship providers surveyed are having to reject small-to-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) looking to recruit apprentices. Recognising the problems, the government […]

A police force has been censured by Ofsted for the “poor” quality of its apprenticeship delivery and for not taking prior learning into account, following an early monitoring visit. The Chief Constable of Northumbria (referred to as Northumbria Police in the report) began training its own apprentices in May last year and had 30 apprentices […]

The UK is to take its first steps towards hosting the international WorldSkills competition by gauging interest from the sector. WorldSkills UK chief executive Neil Bentley-Gockmann announced his organisation is “interested in exploring” a bid to host the competition in an interview with FE Week today. However, they cannot do it alone: Bentley-Gockmann said they […]

Hadlow College has begun transferring campuses to other providers after it became the first to enter education administration last year. The Mottingham campus, which has 186 learners and 23 staff, was taken over by Capel Manor on 1 January. Hadlow’s interim principal Graham Morley called it an “important step” towards resolving the financial issues facing […]

A provider to the Premier League has scored well while a national laboratory training firm has done even better over a quiet festive break for Ofsted reports. The only two other reports published during that period for FE were less impressive: FBP Ventures made ‘insufficient progress’ in one area; while HOB Salons failed to improve […]

Around £1.2 billion has been “wasted” on “fake apprenticeships” that have taken up half of all starts since the apprenticeship levy was introduced in May 2017, according to new research.  The study by think tank EDSK goes on to recommend that apprenticeships should be for level 3 only, while standards at level 2 and degree-equivalent […]

Gordon Marsden and Anne Milton were two high profile FE casualties as the Conservatives secured a 80 seat majority in a dramatic general election. The Conservative party can now form a majority government for the first time since 2015, and prime minister Boris Johnson will have a number of new FE promises to fulfil. This […]

Two providers scored highly in the first run of Ofsted early monitoring reports for specialist colleges, in a week that saw a struggling general FE college receive its ninth inspection report in just six years. From autumn 2019, Ofsted started to carry out monitoring visits to independent specialist colleges newly ESFA-funded from August 2018 onwards. […]