Author: Nick Linford

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) twice delayed publication of the 2014/15 nationwide qualification achievement rates (QAR) – but FE Week can reveal that the apprenticeship success rate has bounced back 2.8 percentage points to 71.7 per cent. FE Week described in December how the publication of the QAR for 2014/15 had been pushed back, with promises it would be published “towards the […]

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has announced that it has delayed the launch of the new ‘recruit an apprentice/trainee’ service until “early summer”. The SFA said in its online Update bulletin today that the reason for the delay was to “carry out more development work and user testing”. The new service, which will replace the […]

Cash-strapped Carlisle College has been in talks with a view to join the Newcastle College Group (NCG). A spokesperson said the merger proposal had been put forward to strengthen and further develop Carlisle College’s provision and meet the needs of the local community at a time when small colleges are facing “challenges in a difficult […]

City College Brighton & Hove and neighbouring Northbrook College have announced plans to merge into a new Regional Institute of Arts & Technology. A spokesperson for the two colleges said their intention is to create a single institute that places apprenticeships and work-based learning “at the heart” of its plans to “transform the lives of […]

The number of new 16-18 apprenticeship starts has continued to rise although the level of new starters in adult provision has fallen, according to new provisional Skills Funding Agency statistics. Statistical First Release data published today for the first two quarters of 2015/16 show the overall number of new starts is up by 2,400 to […]

Hackney Community College and Tower Hamlets College have today confirmed that they will merge from August this year. FE Week reported last month that talks had started to create a “single, larger and more sustainable college” which will see both colleges keep their individual existing campuses, names and branding. After the decision was confirmed today, […]

This afternoon the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) sent colleges and training providers their eagerly anticipated funding allocations for next year. As outlined in the Skills Funding letter for 2016-17, the new Adult Education Budget is to be kept for the next four years at £1.5bn, allowing for the SFA to end the cycle of annual cuts. Priority areas such […]

FE Week’s second Annual Apprenticeship Conference (AAC) saw more than 900 delegates fill Birmingham’s International Convention Centre for three days from March 16 to 18 to hear the latest on the government’s apprenticeship reforms. With speakers including sector leaders, key civil servants, government advisers, awarding bodies and apprentices themselves, the conference covered just about every […]