Author: Fraser Whieldon

The Mayor of London has today revealed the FE projects that will share £57.6 million to spend on improving training facilities and equipment, as part of the second round of the Skills for Londoners Capital Fund. Seventeen providers, nine of which are colleges, will benefit from funding of between £150,000 and £10 million. The Greater […]

Two flagship apprenticeship surveys have had their publication date delayed by six months and will incur additional costs to the Department for Education. The Apprenticeship Evaluation and Pay Surveys 2018, comprising the Apprenticeship Evaluation Survey (AEvS) and Apprenticeship Pay Survey (APS), will not be released to the public until mid-October. This is because the supplier, […]

An investigation initiated by the Hadlow Group’s board into their former deputy principal has been taken over by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. A spokesperson for the embattled group said the board is “co-operating with the ESFA” and “working closely with the agency to ensure the outcome is fair, proportionate and holds individuals to […]

A new apprenticeship provider has been heavily criticised for not monitoring its subcontracted provision in what was otherwise a strong show in this week’s run of Ofsted reports. Piper Training Ltd, the training arm of the Building Engineering Services Association, received three ‘insufficient progress’ ratings from the watchdog in its first monitoring visit since it […]

The Greater London Authority is planning to provide free English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) courses up to the level required for British citizenship. As part of a new consultation on its Skills for Londoners Framework, which was launched today and outlines how the GLA intends to spend its adult education budget (AEB) from […]

The Association of Colleges has criticised the Department for Education’s new local area reviews for not including small “non-viable” school sixth forms. Under the reviews, announced on Monday, FE Commissioner Richard Atkins (pictured) will provide “a flexible intervention that can make recommendations on the best way of achieving long-term sustainable provision” in the local area. […]

The skills minister and the chair of the education select committee were at loggerheads this morning after Anne Milton refused to say how much extra FE funding she is requesting from the Treasury. Committee chair Robert Halfon argued that education ministers would be more likely to win over the Treasury if they were openly campaigning […]

A member of the Commons Public Accounts Committee has “serious concerns” about the government allocating one provider up to £40 million in nine months to teach a controversial management consultancy apprenticeship. Layla Moran, the Lib Dem education spokesperson, was responding to an FE Week analysis that showed the level 7 accountancy/taxation professional standard had 3,250 […]