Jessica Fino | FE Week

It’s FE Week wot won it: 5 month mystery of missing £300k levy ‘resolved’ by ESFA

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has finally returned £300,000 to a large high-profile employer within hours of FE Week asking for an explanation. The employer, that did not wish to be named, saw the money mysteriously disappear from their apprenticeship levy pot in November without warning or reason. After reporting the missing funds to […]

Overspend: GLA warns of risk to AEB devo project

The Greater London Authority has denied that devolution of the adult education budget is at risk due to spiralling IT costs, despite warning the Mayor that failure to find the extra cash could “jeopardise” the project. The GLA is due to take control of London’s £306 million adult education budget from the Education and Skills […]

Universities and training providers clash on apprenticeship priorities

It is “entirely unacceptable” to expect public sector employers to subsidise low-level apprenticeships for chefs and hairdressers, a university membership organisation has said, calling on government to better support levels 6 and 7 instead. Adrian Anderson, chief executive of University Vocational Awards Council, the body that represents over 90 universities delivering apprenticeships, said the decline […]

Minister admits a lot ‘we don’t know yet’ about Treasury backed national retraining scheme

The government still doesn’t know how the national retraining scheme will work or how much it will cost, even though the programme is expected to be rolled out from the summer. Despite the scheme being mooted in June 2017 and the Department for Education being pushed to share more information about it three months ago, […]

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: EDITION 276

Your weekly guide to who’s new and who’s leaving. Ellen Thinnesen, Chief executive, Education Partnership North East Start date: March 2019 Previous job: Principal and chief executive, Sunderland College and Hartlepool Sixth Form College Interesting fact: She is a qualified nurse. Nigel Harrett, Principal, Northumberland College Start date: March 2019 Previous job: Deputy principal and […]

Ofsted watch: Mixed results for FE providers

It has been a varied week in the FE sector, with three providers receiving ‘good’ grades from Ofsted while three others were told they require improvement. The education watchdog also published four monitoring visits, where two providers were found making ‘significant progress’. Good news came in for the Open University and the University of Sheffield, […]

Funding clawback for college at risk of cash crisis

A college already in financial difficulty is being forced to pay back nearly £1 million to the government as a result of working with a subcontractor investigated for falsifying learner records. In a report published last Friday by the FE commissioner, North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College was warned that it needed to take “urgent […]

AAC Awards 2019 winners crowned

The country’s best apprenticeship providers, employers and champions have been honoured at the Annual Apprenticeship Awards 2019. More than 500 people celebrated the winners at a glittering gala dinner at the Annual Apprenticeship Conference, held in Birmingham. This is the second year of the awards. Organised by FE Week and the Association of Employment and […]

Blow your own trumpet and shake off your victim mentality, providers told

FE providers have been urged to “blow their own trumpet more” after research found they have developed a “victim mentality” because they have been “unfairly blamed for deficiencies in a highly complicated system”. A study, conducted by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) and the Further Education Trust for Leadership (FETL), found that […]