Paul Offord | FE Week

No approved assessment organisation for over half of new apprenticeships

Almost 60 per cent of apprenticeship standards cleared so far by the government for learner starts don’t have an approved assessment organisation, a Skills Funding Agency update has today revealed. The online document showed there are only 63 standards with an approved AO to do the end point assessment. That’s out of 147 standards that […]

Commons debate request over funding cuts exposed by FE Week

A backbench House of Commons debate has been called for by David Lammy MP over drastic funding cuts exposed by FE Week, which inspired our #SaveOurApprenticeships campaign. Mr Lammy (pictured above) has applied to the Backbench Business Committee to hold a three hour debate based on the findings of FE Week’s exclusive analysis, which showed […]

Government set for u-turn on apprenticeships funding cuts

Controversial plans to slash apprenticeship funding rates for young people in deprived areas are set to be reconsidered by the government, in what would be a huge success for FE Week’s #SaveOurApprenticeships campaign. FE Week understands the Skills Funding Agency has gone some way to address the framework rate cuts in their final plans, due […]

FE Week campaign against apprenticeship funding cuts raised in Commons

Major cuts exposed by FE Week to apprenticeships funding for 16- to 18-year-olds in some of the most deprived areas of the country has been raised during education questions, with our #SaveOurApprenticeships campaign repeatedly name-checked on the floor of the House of Commons. Mary Glindon, Labour MP for North Tyneside (pictured above), asked during education questions what […]

EU students will be eligible for English FE loans in 2016/17

Students from the European Union who want to study with an English FE provider in 2017/18 will still be eligible for advanced learner loans, regardless of when Brexit takes place. The government announced this morning that EU learners applying for a place at an English “FE institutions or universities in 2017/18 will continue to be […]

Search begins for chair of the Institute for Apprenticeships

The hunt is on for the first permanent chair of the Institute for Apprenticeships, while potential candidates have been served notice that they should be prepared to adapt to changing ministerial whims. An online notice posted by the Cabinet Office confirms that the role will involve two days a week work, and pay £56,000 a […]

Greening tells conference Skills Plan will be ‘big focus’

A firm commitment to “transform” technical education was made by education secretary Justine Greening, in a Conservative Party Conference speech that stressed the government’s Skills Plan will be a “big focus” for her. She told delegates yesterday (Tuesday) there had been a “renaissance in apprenticeships” over the last six-and-a-half years, and she was now determined […]

Strike will hit Hull College next Thursday

A strike by Hull College staff has been set for next Thursday (October 13), after staff voted to walk-out over planned redundancies. It comes after FE Week reported last week that former shadow attorney general and MP for Kingston upon Hull, Karl Turner, had renewed his war of words with the college bosses over the […]

Bosses ‘switch’ firms leaving huge student and company debt

Serious questions are being asked of the Skills Funding Agency, after it allowed directors to switch the ownership of a successful provider they ran from one parent company to another, before transferring out a large amount of money, liquidating it, and leaving learners and creditors on the hook for millions of pounds. After a month-long […]