Author: Jude Burke

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has said it will improve its tool for viewing qualification achievement rates (QAR) following complaints from providers — but is unable to say when. The twice-delayed QARs were finally made available on April 5 via new interactive dashboards on the SFA’s online hub. However, the dashboards did not include the […]

Skills Minister Nick Boles has confirmed that consultancy grants of £50k or £100k will be available to support colleges to implement area review recommendations, in a letter sent to all colleges and training providers ahead of the Easter break. The letter is the first written confirmation from the government that the cash, which was first […]

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has today launched a long-awaited consultation into introducing maintenance loans for learners in FE. The consultation, which closes on June 16, is around the premise of introducing loans for FE learners aged 19 and above at levels 4 to 6. The aim of introducing the loans, the […]

The apprenticeship levy is a “revenue raising measure” for the Treasury, former business secretary Sir Vince Cable has said. During his speech at FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference yesterday, Sir Vince also said the levy was a “good concept” but the detail was “incredibly hazy”. “I get the impression they [the Treasury] think they can squeeze resources […]

Only companies that are paying the apprenticeship levy will have access to the new funding system when it is launched in April 2017, the co-chair of the government’s Apprenticeship Delivery Board has revealed. Nadhim Zahawi (pictured above) dropped the bombshell this afternoon at FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference, in Birmingham. “The core offering that we will […]

University Technical Colleges (UTCs) should function as part of multi-academy trusts (MATs) to make them “stronger”, the skills minister has said. Nick Boles (pictured above) told the House of Commons this afternoon he wanted to replicate success stories where the 14 to 19 technical institutions functioned well as part of academy chains, and not as […]

Invitations to tender for the European Social Fund (ESF) Youth Programme in London have been launched by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA). The new contracts for 2014-20 cover the youth talent and careers clusters strands of the ESF programme for young people in London. Applications for the tendering process that launched yesterday (March 7) must be […]

A further education college has plummeted from the highest to lowest overall grade after its first Ofsted inspection in more than seven years. Mid-Cheshire College (MCC) has been slammed by the education watchdog, which branded its provision ‘inadequate’ overall, with six out of seven headline fields also rated as ‘inadequate’. Inspectors last visited the college in […]

City College Plymouth (CCP) has become the second college to join the 157 Group since it exclusively revealed its expansion plans to FE Week in January, bringing membership of the group to 28. The group’s chief executive, Ian Pretty (pictured above), said he was “pleased to welcome” CCP, which was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted at […]