Paul Offord | FE Week

Government sets December deadline in 16-to-18 data reporting crackdown

Colleges must publish vital 16-to-18 performance data by a strict December deadline, in a Department for Education crackdown apparently prompted by an FE Week investigation that uncovered widespread ignorance of the requirements. We reported in June that the DfE had decreed that all providers – including colleges and sixth form colleges – were meant to have published five […]

Exclusive: Government inaction as employers leave apprentices half a million pounds out of pocket

It’s likely that no-one has been fined or prosecuted for illegally underpaying apprentices, an FE Week investigation exposing the “unacceptable” failure of government enforcement has found. The Department for Education’s own survey, published on Wednesday, found that 18 per cent of apprentices were paid below the appropriate national minimum wage in 2016, up from 15 […]

Investigation update: Confusion as government refuses to say if all provider’s funding pulled

The future of a provider caught offering banned inducements to an employer remains in limbo, after the government refused to confirm whether all its last funding will be cancelled. Talent Training, a company based in South Tyneside, does not appear in the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s latest allocations list, and the company itself has […]

Exclusive: T-Level crisis exposed as DfE fail to appoint any advisory panel members

More trouble has erupted in T-Level planning, after it emerged that no-one has yet been appointed to the advisory development panels that should have met for the first time four months ago. FE Week made a Freedom of Information request for the names of all the appointments made to these technical education panels, after the […]

First degree apprentices in UK graduate

The first group of degree apprentices in the UK have graduated today, with seven out of the 11 gaining first class honours. The Aston University learners were awarded bachelors of science degrees in digital and technology solutions, following three years of combined study and work with the global consulting, technology and outsourcing company Capgemini. The […]

Statistics regulator pressured DfE into achievement rate U-turn

The government was pressured into its major U-turn on the publication of hidden achievement rate data in the wake of FE Week reporting, the national statistics regulation boss has revealed. The Department for Education last month released 2015/16 National Achievement Rate Tables for individual providers, a few months after it closed several significant “loopholes”, […]

Ofsted exposed over failure to monitor 1,200 subcontractors

Ofsted has completely failed to act on a change in its rules that allow it directly to inspect subcontractors despite an embarrassing succession of major scandals, an FE Week investigation has discovered. Monitoring subcontracting is a huge and increasingly thorny issue – there were 1,200 subcontractors accessing an eye-watering £693 million in government funding as […]

Exclusive: Date revealed for when DfE will publish revised 2014/15 achievement rate data

Long-awaited revised achievement rates for individual providers will be published on July 27, FE Week can reveal. The Department for Education released the 2015/16 National Achievement Rate Tables for individual providers on June 15 after what they described as closing significant “loop-holes” – but failed to provide comparable figures for previous years, as they normally […]

Exclusive : Taylor review into ‘Modern Working Practices’ calls for more flexible training

A hotly anticipated government review of employment practices is to call for apprenticeship and loan funding to be made available for “modules” and “flexible” courses, FE Week can reveal. Matthew Taylor, the chief executive of the Royal Society of Arts, was asked by the prime minister to “develop proposals to improve the lives of this country’s citizens” through […]