Paul Offord | FE Week

Brokerage of apprenticeship funding to be banned next year

The use of public funds to pay brokers’ fees will be banned, thanks to an award-winning FE week investigation which forced the Skills Funding Agency to take action. Our exposé of this secretive industry in April (pictured) – the first of its kind – blew the lid on the underhanded way in which brokers matchup […]

Autumn statement: Government to devolve adult education budget to London

The government has announced that it is devolving the adult education budget to London, through today’s autumn statement. Details emerged in the online document published on gov.uk following the end of chancellor Philip Hammond’s speech in the House of Commons this afternoon. It said: “The government remains committed to devolving powers to support local areas to […]

Autumn statement: Hammond approves 10p apprentice minimum wage rise

The national minimum wage for apprentices will rise from £3.40 per hour to £3.50 – a bigger increase than rates for most other groups – following the autumn statement. Chancellor Philip Hammond presented the self-proclaimed “balanced and prudent” budget plans to the House of Commons today. He said next to nothing about FE, but a […]

Future ‘remains uncertain’ for Central Sussex College, Ofsted warns

Inspectors have warned that the future of Central Sussex College “remains uncertain”, in a new Ofsted report. A ‘requires improvement’ (grade three) verdict-overall was returned today on the provider. Grave doubts about the long-term viability of the college, which had around 3,600 learners at the time of inspection, emerged from the report. It said: “Since the […]

Pearson’s apprentice Ofsted rating up two grades to ‘good’

Pearson has recovered two grades from its previous ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating for its apprenticeship provision. The global education business was in January ranked ‘inadequate’ across the board by the education watchdog. But it was inspected again last month, and the report out today returned a unanimous ‘good’ verdict. It said: “Leaders and managers have implemented successfully […]

Ministers need to fund technical education, says Lord Sainsbury

Ministers need to take a more realistic view of the cost of high-quality technical education and increase funding to it accordingly, Lord Sainsbury has said, as the government begins to implement his recommendations for a slimmed down system. His influential report on technical education has heavily informed the government’s new skills plan, which will see […]

Guess the FE cartoons!

FE Week’s brilliant cartoonist Bill Houston was quick on the draw at the Association of Colleges conference this week, where he could be found sketching dozens of familiar sector faces. He set up his booth on Wednesday right by the entrance to the conference at the ICC Birmingham – where he dashed out quick-fire pen-on-paper […]

Government adviser criticises full-time vocational courses

The whole notion of full-time vocational courses has been “challenged” by the man who chairs the Apprenticeship Delivery Board, much to the dismay of many of his colleagues in the sector. David Meller (pictured), who also called for financial help to be given to poorer learners needing to relocate, made the controversial comments in a […]

Strong indication of English and maths post-16 requirement change

The strongest indication yet has been given that the Department for Education is planning to change its English and maths requirements for post-16 learners, by apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon. The revelation came during his speech this afternoon at the Association of Colleges annual conference, in Birmingham.He conceded to delegates that GCSEs are not […]