Nick Linford | FE Week

Dr Lynne Sedgmore to become FE and skills’ first Poet Laureate

*** Hands up if you fell for it? Yes, this was our April Fool’s Day 2015 prank story, and thanks to Dr Lynne Sedgmore for playing along. Thanks too, to Martin Doel and Stewart Segal. “We may have played a joke — some fun amid the gloom — but we are clear that the severity […]

Hopes for end to confusion over official apprenticeship hunt websites

Concerns that two official internet search engines for apprenticeships were causing confusion among potential applicants are expected to be resolved when the old website is taken down in just over a month. The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has kept the old National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) vacancy matching website running while its replacement, which went live […]

Education ringfence meant 16 to 18 providers ‘missed out on £1.2bn’ since 2010

An extra £1.2bn could have been dished out to 16 to 18 providers since 2010 if the government’s education ringfence had extended beyond five to 15-year-olds, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) claimed today. The IPPR’s Moving on up – Developing a strong, coherent upper secondary education system in England report said that the UK, […]

More colleges must pass the FE Commissioner test before guidance on ending his intervention, says BIS

Principals will have to wait for more struggling colleges to emerge successfully from the FE Commissioner process before the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) publishes guidelines on how intervention ends. A report published today (March 25) by BIS, entitled An Evaluation of the Further Education Commissioner-led intervention process summary report, made a number […]

FE colleges set for £61m for higher education next year

General FE and sixth form colleges will receive £61m from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) for courses next academic year. The figure is 4 per cent down on the £64m given to FE providers for higher education this academic year and a 48 per cent decrease on the £118m funding dished out to […]

Are FE loans here to stay?

Government proposals to extend loans to level two and also include learners from the age of 19 were put on hold this week as part of the official response to a two-month consultation launched in June. David Hughes assesses the response and also the future for FE loans. The Government’s response to its consultation on […]

Loans plan on hold for review of ‘overall funding for skills provision’

Government plans to extend the reach of the FE loans system have been put on hold pending a review of “the overall funding for skills provision”. A two-month consultation was launched by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) in June to look at making the FE loans system cover level two qualifications and […]

Is it possible to survive the 24 per cent adult skills cuts?

As if the numbers themselves didn’t paint the picture clearly enough, Association of Colleges (AoC) research today highlighted just how adult skills funding cuts of up to 24 per cent next academic year would “decimate” the sector. Ian Sackree considers how colleges might react in order to survive. So, the SFA has spoken, announcing adult […]

Government consultation on future of FE provides opportunity for more funding questions

A wide-ranging government consultation on the future of FE that launched today has prompted sector calls for a rethink on funding cuts. Business Secretary Vince Cable (pictured above) unveiled the 90-page consultation paper, entitled A dual mandate for adult vocational education, saying the issues it raised “imply important changes for how we think about further […]