Jude Burke | FE Week

IfA seeks (paid) peer reviewers

The Institute for Apprenticeships is on the hunt for yet more experts – but this time they will be paid. Adverts for up to 80 anonymous peer-reviewers for apprenticeship standards and assessment plans appeared on the Cabinet Office website today, and will pay £200 per “individual submission” completed. Reviewers will remain anonymous so they can […]

Local authority sets up rival apprenticeship provider register – but will charge

A local authority is planning to make hundreds of thousands in management fees by offering access to its own apprenticeship provider list, FE Week can reveal. Nottingham City Council is currently tendering for apprenticeship providers to join its “directory” – a list that it intends to share with other public sector employers across England. The […]

AEB tender results pushed back AGAIN, now into August

Training providers are being are being told they will learn the results of their long delayed adult education budget bids in August, even though the Education and Skills Funding Agency claimed the announcement would be made “at the end of July”. This is far from the first time this news has been held back – […]

Assessment organisation claims ESFA approval for subcontracting model

An end-point assessment organisation claims that the Education and Skills Funding Agency will allow it to subcontract apprenticeship exams – even though the agency is in the middle of a significant crackdown on similar arrangements. SSL Assessment Services Partnerships is currently approved to deliver EPA for the level three team leader standard, and is listed […]

DfE quick to rebuff ‘evidence’ of employers calling for changes to off-the-job rule

A plea for flexibility in apprenticeship off-the-job training requirements has been swiftly rebutted by the Department for Education. In a paper sent to the DfE on Monday, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, backed by leading employers, asked that employers developing apprenticeship standards be allowed to set their own rules for how much time […]

London college merger called off at last minute

A planned merger between two London colleges has been called off at the last minute, FE Week can reveal. Barking and Dagenham College and Havering College will no longer link up on August 1, Barking’s acting chair of governors has admitted. Mark Bass told FE Week that merger discussions between the two colleges “have for […]

Blackburn College students fume over two-week results delay

Degree students left waiting for overdue results from a Lancashire college have branded the delay “cruel” and are demanding answers. The final grades for students at Blackburn College’s university centre should have been published two weeks ago, according to reports in the local media – but have not yet been released. The college has blamed […]

Ofsted watch: Three providers branded ‘inadequate’

Three providers have been branded ‘inadequate’ in a tough week for the FE and skills sector. Land-based provider Easton and Otley College, independent provider EQL Solutions Limited and employer provider Compass Group UK & Ireland have all been given the lowest possible grade. Easton and Otley College was rated grade four in all areas except […]

Ten things we learned from the SFA and EFA annual reports

The Skills Funding Agency and the Education Funding Agency have both released their annual reports and accounts for 2016-17 today – their last before they merged to form a single agency on April 1. Here are 10 interesting facts we learned through combing through both reports: The SFA underspent by £156.8 million (4.6 per cent) […]