Paul Offord | FE Week

Leicester city council in row over ‘brokerage-style’ levy deal

Leicester city council is the latest public body accused of diverting apprenticeship levy funding away from frontline learning via a brokerage-style deal with a third party. It awarded a contract to a firm known as Salad Skills last October, to operate as a “quality-assurance partner”. This role involves identifying suitable providers to train the council’s […]

ESFA misses chance to get tough on wasteful subcontracting

The ESFA must enforce rules that are supposed to be putting a stop to wasteful short-term subcontracting. The example uncovered this week showed Stephenson College seeking to find subcontractors to use up £100,000 of funding by the end of July. That’s less than three months from the start of the contract to the end, proving […]

Anne Milton hasn’t met the IfA’s apprentice panel in its first year

The skills minister has still not met with the Institute for Apprenticeships’ panel of apprentices – more than 12 months after it was established. The panel, which first met last April, is made up of current or recent apprentices who discuss issues from the learner’s perspective and raise with the main IfA board. Shadow skills […]

Skills minister and ESFA boss speaking at AELP conference

The skills minister and the recently appointed leader of the Education and Skills Funding Agency are the standout speakers at this year’s national conference for independent FE providers. The Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ biggest annual event is taking place over June 25 and 26 in London’s Hammersmith. FE Week is the media partner […]

People 1st collapses, stunning the FE sector

People 1st, once a major sector skills council and a key player in the apprenticeship reforms, has entered administration, FE Week can reveal. This is a stunning blow for the retail, hospitality and travel industries in the apprenticeship system. The employment and learning consultancy charity confirmed this morning that it has been placed into the […]

Apprenticeship payments system breakdown finally ‘resolved’

The government claims to have finally fixed its malfunctioning apprenticeship payments reporting system, more than two weeks after it was first reported. FE Week reported last week that the ESFA had missed its own deadline to repair the IT issues, which had prompted numerous exasperated complaints on the FE Connect site from April 10. We […]

Subcontracting fees will finally be published in June

The government will publish subcontracting fees for providers across the country in June, the education minister Nadhim Zahawi has revealed at long last. Individual lead providers were previously required to publish their annual figures by the end of November every year. This changed from 2016/17, when new rules dictated that providers had to inform the […]

MPs’ inquiry will look into long-term planning for FE

The Commons education committee will investigate long-term education investment – especially whether colleges and schools are getting the money they need. The influential group of MPs has launched an inquiry into whether a longer-term plan is needed for investment across education, including FE, and what resources are really needed. MPs will look ahead to the […]

New ways to win at the 15th National Apprenticeship Awards

The 15th National Apprenticeship Awards are now open for entries – and several new categories have been announced, including the ‘Recruitment excellence award’. “It will recognise employers who have attracted a diverse and high-quality apprenticeship workforce through new and innovative approaches to recruitment,” said an Education and Skills Funding Agency spokesperson. Also new for 2018, […]