Fraser Whieldon | FE Week

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 280

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Fiona Stilwell, Managing Director, Activate Apprenticeships Start date: April 2019 Previous job: Chief operating officer, Activate Apprenticeships Interesting fact: She recently started to learn to horse ride with her daughter. Jon Graham, Trustee, Education and Training Foundation board Start date: March 2019 Current job: Chief Executive, JTL Interesting […]

Joy and heartbreak: contrasting emotions as funding band changes are announced

Funding bands for ten of the 30 apprenticeship standards which have been under review by the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education since last December were approved by education secretary Damian Hinds this week. Changes for those that have had their funding reduced will come into effect for apprenticeship starts from August 5, 2019, while […]

Scania hits out at planned cut to heavy vehicle apprenticeship funding band

A leading manufacturer of heavy trucks and buses has warned that cutting the funding band by £3,000 for an apprenticeship that it helped to develop threatens its industry’s longterm skills strategy. Scania (Great Britain) Limited, which has nearly 50,000 employees globally and produces heavy commercial vehicles, has addressed an open letter to Damian Hinds, as […]

College that received £21.9m bailout to cut 39 jobs

Nearly 40 staff are expected to lose their jobs as part of a restructure at a college that received a government bailout of over £20 million last year. Stoke-on-Trent College is currently consulting on the plans that will not affect frontline teaching roles, but will see up to 103 staff in business support roles having […]

Ofsted watch: Universities stand out, while some big colleges fall short

Universities have stood out from the pack this week, while other types of providers have not done as well, including two big colleges which dropped to grade three. But it wasn’t all bad news for the college sector, as London South East Colleges, which has 10,000 learners, received a glowing grade two report. The University […]

HS2 college needed last-minute DfE bailout to sign off accounts

The government had to promise a last-minute gift of £4.55 million to avoid a National College being unable to sign off last year’s accounts. The unplanned bailout to the National College for High Speed Rail came on top of an additional in-year £3.6 million working capital loan from the DfE. Accountants forecast a £7.5 million […]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 279

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Michelle Howard, Executive director, The Lancashire Colleges Start date: May 2019 Previous job: Business development manager, Manchester Metropolitan University Interesting fact: She once completed a tandem skydive for charity. Sean Pearce, Chief operating officer, Ofqual Start date: January 2019 Previous job: Director of finance, West Midlands Combined […]

PAC to scrutinise careers quango that is failing to pay its way

MPs will investigate whether careers funding is achieving value for money after the government abandoned plans to make the Careers & Enterprise Company pay for itself. Meg Hillier, chair of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee, (pictured) told FE Week’s sister paper FE Week that her committee wants to look into the Department for Education’s careers […]

Training firm with 2,000 learners goes bust

A training provider with over 2,000 learners has gone into administration, with the loss of 69 jobs. James Lumb and Howard Smith from KPMG were appointed as administrators to Inspire 2 Independence (i2i) on April 29. Lumb, a director at KPMG, said the provider, which offered employability and apprenticeship programmes through its 13 sites across […]