Author: Paul Offord

The National Audit Office is to investigate the government’s decision to close BIS’ Sheffield office. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills confirmed last month that it will definitely close the office — which could lead to around 250 civil servants with expertise in the FE sector losing their jobs — as part of plans […]

The boss of the Skills Funding Agency, Peter Lauener, has met with union officials amid concern that staff anger over pay grade changes could lead to strike action. FE Week understands recent moves to transfer SFA employees — who had previously been paid according to the agency’s own gradings — over to general civil service […]

Britain would need to make an additional £1.15bn cut in education spending to fill the £30bn black hole in public finances that would be caused by Brexit, the Chancellor has warned. However, George Osborne’s claim was immediately dismissed as scaremongering by dozens of eurosceptic MPs from his own party. His warning was echoed by skills […]

Ofqual chair Amanda Spielman has been approved by the government as the next Ofsted chief inspector. A Department for Education (DfE) source confirmed that the government had cleared the 55-year-old’s appointment. Ministers will now wait on agreement from the Commons education select committee for final approval, FE Week understands. A DfE spokesperson said she was […]

Students who started courses at City of Bristol College as long as five years ago have still not been awarded their qualifications due to “misplaced” work. Two former students from City of Bristol College have lodged formal complaints against the college over the last two years, which have still not been resolved, and still face […]

Mark Dawe (pictured) may only be weeks into his new job, but he is already breaking the mould. The former college principal and awarding organisation chief has become the first boss of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) to openly criticise the scale of subcontracting. Mr Dawe spoke out after AELP claimed that 93 per […]

Two senior appointments have been announced for the Institute for Apprenticeships — a day after Association of Employment and Learning Providers boss Mark Dawe complained to MPs about lack of leadership at the new policing body. The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) revealed this morning that former Barclays chief executive Anthony Jenkins had […]

The government has admitted that fewer than one in ten 19- to 24-year-olds who complete a traineeship course move on to start an apprenticeship. Traineeships were launched three years ago, as part of the government’s drive to help low-skilled young people onto apprenticeships — but publicly available statistics only provide overall “positive” progression numbers to […]