Fraser Whieldon | FE Week

Counter fraud becomes 500th approved apprenticeship standard

Counter fraud investigator has become the 500th apprenticeship standard approved for delivery by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. The level 4 standard, with a maximum funding band of £15,000, has been approved just eight months after the institute passed the 400 approved standards mark in January. Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said it was […]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 292

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Elizabeth Taylor, chief executive, Employment Related Services Association Start date: November 2019 Previous job: Interim chief executive, Employment Related Services Association Interesting fact: She was once the social enterprise champion for Lancashire. John Kerr, managing director, Develop Training Start date: July 2019 Previous job: Operations director, Develop […]

Even a mastermind would fail to keep up with complex, changing and contradictory subcontracting rules

My specialist subject on Mastermind would be the ESFA funding rules for subcontracting. I can quote documents and paragraphs for every year going back a decade because my business has in part grown by personally delivering commercial training to help colleges and training providers stay on the right side of the increasingly complex and confusing […]

Flagship rail college hopes new name and broader offering will put it back on track

The National College for High Speed Rail is ploughing ahead with a new name and broader course offer, following a multi-million pound government bailout. After consulting earlier this year, the government’s flagship college is changing its name to the National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure and intends to offer a wider range of courses […]

Minister admits no power to stop Stourbridge College becoming residential flats

An education minister has admitted the government has no power to preserve Stourbridge College’s site for educational use, heightening concern that it could instead become housing. Following an announcement in May that cash-strapped Birmingham Metropolitan College would be selling its site in Stourbridge, its local MP Margot James yesterday led a Westminster Hall debate on […]

Revealed: The awarding bodies delivering the second wave of T-levels

The awarding organisations that will develop, deliver and award the seven T-levels being rolled out from 2021 are NCFE and City & Guilds, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has announced. NCFE has been awarded contracts worth a combined total of £16.6 million to develop qualifications for digital business services, digital support and services, […]

Williamson pledges to ‘supercharge’ FE and overtake Germany within a decade

The education secretary has promised to deliver a “revolution in technical education”, and announced a target of overtaking Germany in this area over the next 10 years. Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference this morning, Gavin Williamson said: “I am setting a new target to supercharge further education over the next decade; our aim is […]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 291

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Sheila Fraser Whyte, Executive director of business development and innovation, Richmond-upon-Thames College Start date: September 2019 Previous job: Management consultant, FEA Interesting fact: She was in the Territorial Army for 16 years, training recruits for the Royal Logistic Corps Ben Owen, Deputy principal, Barnsley College Start date: […]

Advanced learner loan cap is deterring students, college warns

A government-imposed cap on advanced learner loan (ALL) provision is having a “devastating impact”, a college in Oxford has claimed. Despite a 40 per cent increase in demand for its adult learning courses, Ruskin College has been denied permission by the Department for Education (DfE) to increase its ALL facility. This has led to at […]