Author: Nick Linford

Efforts to simplify FE funding and bureaucracy by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) are under the National Audit Office (NAO) microscope. The NAO has launched a probe, called Further Education and skills sector — the simplification plan, with findings due for publication this autumn. “The study will examine the work done by BIS to simplify […]

The new leadership team at inadequate-rated South London college Lesoco has been praised by the FE Commissioner, it has been claimed. Dr David Collins was back at the college last month having initially been sent into the college by then-Skills Minister Matthew Hancock in January after it had been given a grade four Ofsted inspection […]

The number of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) in England is at its lowest quarterly level for nearly a decade, according to government figures out today. There were 809,000 16 to 24-year-old Neets for April and June — the lowest since 2005 and down 125,000 on the same period last year. […]

The government has backed down on its GCSE entry requirement plans for early years educator apprenticeships. It had been planning to make grade C or above English and maths a requirement for course starts from next month, rejecting Functional Skills quals, as reported in FE Week in February. The Department for Education (DfE) claimed its […]

Concerns have emerged at the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) that FE and skills providers may have been claiming funding they weren’t entitled to. Una Bennett, SFA deputy director for funding systems, has written to providers about the ILR funding codes used for learners aged 24 and above after a review uncovered full funding claims below […]

Details of long-awaited new English for Speakers of Other Languages (Esol) qualifications due to run from next month have been finalised, FE Week can exclusively reveal. Awarding organisations (AOs) including NOCN and City & Guilds have agreed their latest Skills for Life (SfL) offers with Ofqual. The quals have been under development since February last […]

The principal of a London sixth form college has hit back at a nearby head teacher’s claim in the national media that his highly selective free school was the only option for A-level learners in the borough. Eddie Playfair, principal of Newham Sixth Form College (Newvic), described the claims of John Weeks, from the London […]