Jude Burke | FE Week

Area reviews mishandled early on, DfE research concludes

The way the government handled the first wave of the area reviews has been slammed by new research on behalf of the Department for Education. Most of those who took part “considered their involvement in the first wave of the process as a challenge”, consultancy firm CFE found. Major obstacles included a “lack of lead […]

FE commissioner Richard Atkins: ‘Funding for FE is unfair’

The sector’s funding is “unfair”, the FE commissioner has told a parliamentary hearing. Richard Atkins was asked about the challenges facing colleges during an accountability hearing of the Commons education select committee this morning. “If you asked me about the distribution in the UK between the funding that is given to further education and higher […]

Cornwall College gets £3.5m to help cashflow problems

A cash-strapped college has received £3.5 million in emergency funding, according to its accounts. Cornwall College Group received exceptional financial support in December after it ended the year with £2.25 million less in the bank than planned – and ahead of an application to the restructuring facility. “The group’s highest and most significant risk is […]

Ofsted watch: Trio of providers lose ‘outstanding’ grades

Three providers have lost their ‘outstanding’ grades this week – while another earned the lowest possible grade at its first ever inspection. Selby College, St Charles Catholic Sixth Form College and Aspire Training Team Limited all fell from grade one, while City of London College Centre for Advanced Studies was branded ‘inadequate’. In its first […]

Revealed: Low pupil numbers forced nearly every UTC to hand funding back

Almost all the university technical colleges have missed their recruitment targets and were overpaid by the government last year, leaving them with a combined debt of over £11 million, FE Week can reveal. In fact the Education and Skills Funding Agency is attempting to claw cash back from 39 of 44 UTCs still open in […]

ESFA seeks providers to pioneer T-levels

Providers can now bid to become one of the first to deliver T-levels, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has announced. Guidance, published today, invites expressions of interest from providers who want to deliver the new qualifications in 2020/21, and sets out the criteria they will need to meet. But while it says that the […]

Struggling college ‘expects’ £25 million bailout as university merger hits buffers

Lambeth College, which was served with a notice of concern for financial control by the Education and Skills Funding Agency yesterday, is expecting to receive a massive cash injection from the government’s restructuring facility by the end of the month, according to its own accounts. It is also in the market for a new merger […]

Milton to launch national Year of Engineering

Update, 11am, January 15: The Department for Education called FE Week to say that the minister’s visit to the National College for Digital Skills had been cancelled. A government-wide campaign to boost the country’s engineering skills is being officially launched today by Anne Milton. The Year of Engineering is designed to change perceptions about engineering, […]

Atkins’ aides: Principals appointed to advise DfE

A crack team of seven top principals has been chosen by the FE commissioner to advise government officials on skills policy, FE Week can reveal. The seven, who make up Richard Atkins’ principals’ reference group, will be used as a sounding board for officials on topics including the development of T-levels. Speaking exclusively to FE […]