ESFA concern: providers subcontracting to employers

Providers using employers as subcontractors in ways that are “contrary to the spirit” of the apprenticeship reforms will face the consequences, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has warned.

Keith Smith, director of funding and programmes at the agency, told delegates on the first morning of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ conference that the practice was “a bit of a theme at the moment” and that the agency was “increasingly concerned” about it.

“Some providers [are] trying to get employers involved as sub-contractors, getting them below the £100,000 radar, and actually trying get money back to the employer for stuff they do already, which is contrary to everything we’re trying to achieve,” he said.

“So as soon as we see a provider or a employer working against the intent of the rules we will intervene – the provider will be removed from register and also potentially other larger consequences as well,” he warned.

Mr Smith’s words prompted confusion from AELP boss Mark Dawe, who asked for “some explanation and clarity around what is good and what is bad there”.

Current funding rules do allow for providers to use employers as subcontractors – although FE Week warned about the potential for this rule to be exploited as a loophole back in March, when the rules were updated.

As soon as we see a provider or a employer working against the intent of the rules we will intervene

“You’re absolutely right, we want employers to have a place in the system where they can be engaged and they can be supported in delivery, that’s what we want,” Mr Smith said.

He continued: “What we don’t want to see is specifically where employers are being brought into the system in essence to recoup costs that they would generally incur themselves anyway.”

Such cases were “presented as a financial inducement”, Mr Smith said.

“It’s being presented as, you did a deal with us, there’s nothing more you need to do, we’ll put you as doing the induction, we’ll say that you’re doing it, we’ll pay you back X per cent or X amount, and therefore you can get this from us and it’s all fine as you can be a subcontractor, and you won’t have to go and worry about going to the ESFA,” he explained.

He added: “It’s not in any way about trying to stop employers owning some of the delivery being part of the delivery – those are all really, really good things”.

Mr Smith also outlined the agency’s plans to reform the audit process for existing providers.

This would involve “moving the end year audit into look at more thematic approaches”, with the aim of “trying to track stages of the apprentices as they go through their journey”.

The agency was looking “very much at the eligibility and initial assessment, and how the 20 per cent off the job is being put together,” at the moment, he said.

“It is a bit too early to say where that is going to go but I think if we take away lessons that this isn’t going to just stop at new providers,” he said.

“Potentially we’ll move away from the kind of looking back angle type view, I want to see audit happening much more regularly much more frequently to get more assurances as we go through the different stages of the programme,” Mr Smith said.

The ESFA had carried out a mystery shop that looked at how providers were responding to the new system, Mr Smith said.

Among the feedback from this mystery shop was the finding that colleges were “more likely [than independent training providers] to explain how they could help the employer in other areas”.

Mr Dawe later told Mr Smith that providers might feel “a little hurt” by some of the findings – although Mr Smith stressed that it wasn’t about “pulling providers up” but was instead about support.

“We really do care that we’re doing enough to support you,” he said.

Mr Dawe also quizzed Mr Smith on the long-awaited adult education budget procurement exercise.

“It’s imminent,” he said.

“I think it’ll be good news for the sector. And I think you’ll see it’s a very sensible way of managing the transition from the current contracts to the new ones,” he added.

Click here to download Keith’s slides.

Published in our #AELP2017 supplement – click here to download.

DfE publish long awaited off-the-job training guidance

This morning the Department for Education published additional guidance on the 20 percent off-the-job training rule for apprenticeships.

Click here to download the guidance.

The guidance says: “However the training is delivered, it is important to remember that the apprentice must receive off-the-job training for a minimum of 20% of the time that they are paid to work.” 

The new guidance is intended for “employers that wish to understand the off-the-job training requirements involved in an apprenticeship…and…providers that wish to ensure that they are offering off-the-job training in accordance with the funding rules and policy intent.”

 

Merger collapse makes it a dozen area review failures

Yet another merger recommended in the area reviews has collapsed, as a planned link-up between two colleges in the north-east became the twelfth to be called off.

The news that Stockton Riverside College and Darlington College’s partnership was off the cards emerged this week, more than a year after it was first proposed in the Tees Valley area review.

Mark White, Stockton Riverside’s chair of governors, and Pat Howarth, the Darlington chair, said in a joint statement that the decision had been taken after “careful consideration and detailed discussions”.

“Both Darlington and Stockton Riverside College remain committed to working together, exploring collaboration and potential future partnership activity,” it said.

“But we feel the risk of a full merger at this point in time outweighs the potential benefits to students, stakeholders and staff.”

There’s an ongoing dispute between Darlington and its staff over potential pay cuts, which could see lecturers’ pay – but allegedly not that of the principal or senior managers – slashed by up to 10 per cent.

Members of the University and College Union had been planning to protest on June 21 over the proposals, but the demonstration was called off at the last minute, after the college agreed to new talks.

Both Darlington and Stockton Riverside College remain committed to working together

The cuts were said to be due to “real financial challenges” being faced by the college, which are understood to have come to a head as a result of the merger.

Both colleges are currently rated ‘good’ by Ofsted, and theirs was one of three mergers proposed in the Tees Valley review, which ended in May 2016.

According to the report into the review, published in November, the merger would “improve the long-term financial sustainability” of the two colleges, and was “an opportunity to expand provision and to grow apprenticeship provision”.

It’s also the second of the three Tees Valley mergers to have fallen apart.

Hartlepool College and Hartlepool Sixth Form College had been set to join forces, until the SFC announced in March that it intended to join Sunderland College instead.

Other failed mergers include Bury College dropping out of a three-way link-up with the University of Bolton and Bolton College in April.

And FE Week reported in February that another Manchester merger involving Stockport, Oldham and Tameside College had been called off following intervention by the FE commissioner Richard Atkins.

Meanwhile, Tresham College and Bedford College have announced plans to merge this summer.

The pair, which both took part in the south-east Midlands review, part of the fifth wave of the reviews, will form the Bedford College Group.

Bedford College was rated ‘good’ at its most recent Ofsted inspection in March 2014, while Tresham College received a grade four after it was inspected in June 2016.

Ian Pryce CBE, the current Bedford College principal, will take over as principal of the new group, while Ioan Morgan CBE, interim principal at Tresham College, will retire.

Mr Pryce said the merger would bring a number of benefits, including expanding provision and protecting jobs at the two colleges.

“We are committed to the communities of Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough as well as Bedfordshire and we plan to grow provision in all areas,” he said.

“The enthusiastic response we have had from employers, local councils, staff and students shows the community has the same ambition as us and that support will help enormously,” he added.

New skills minister brings welcome news as apprenticeship reforms suffer slow start

The new skills minister, Anne Milton, has announced that the non-levy growth requests will be brought forward to July, at the AELP annual conference this morning.

Providers that made a business case following the non-levy allocations will also be notified next week regarding any additional funding.

Speaking of the paused tendering round, Ms Milton said it would be scrapped, and rerun in July.

Contracts and allocations for non-levy funding would run from January 2018 to April 2019 and the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers will not be open for new providers whilst the procurement is open between the end of July and the end of August this year.

Ms Milton added that the plan was for all employers to be on the digital Apprenticeship System by April 2019.

Mark Dawe, chief executive of AELP, responded by saying the announcements were “really welcome”.

This comes after what is believed to be a slow start to the launch of the apprenticeship funding reforms in May, as reported in FE Week.

Many hundreds of providers were left disappointed after the DfE paused the non-levy tender for allocations. Subsequently, providers with a history of holding apprenticeship contracts were allocated a limited amount of non-levy funding.

Talking about the paused non-levy tender, Ms Milton said: “For many of you this has been a bruising period. I am here to listen and learn and hop also to offer some clarity.”

Ms Milton was appointed a minister at the Department for Education following the general election.

Despite giving her first speech as a DfE minister today, the Department has yet to confirm her title or areas of responsibility.

FE Week is media partner for the conference.

More to follow…

Prison education reforms on hold for another year

Reforms to prison education seem to be back on hold, as existing offender learning contracts are being extended for another year, FE Week has learned.

Currently, the offender learning and skills service (OLASS) is delivered by three colleges and one independent learning provider, whose contracts are managed by central government.

This state of affairs had been due to change in August, when prison governors were to have been granted powers to hire their own education providers.

However, according to Dr Paul Phillips, the principal of Weston College, which holds the OLASS contract for south-west England, these reforms have been tabled until at least 2018.

Dr Phillips told FE Week that HM’s Prison and Probation Service had informed him “that the existing OLASS contracts are to be extended for a further year from August 2017 to end July 2018”.

While this is “subject to formal post-election confirmation from the Cabinet Office and the Treasury”, Dr Phillips said, “the usual annual business planning process is underway”.

Putting in place a new system for prison education cannot be done in a hurry

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice, which manages the contracts, would not however confirm the extension.

“We are currently in discussions on the arrangements for academic year 2017-18,” said a spokesperson.

The plan to hand over control of education to prison governors was first set out by Dame Sally Coates (pictured) in her influential review of prison education, published in May 2016.

Prison governors, she wrote, should “have the freedom to design the right curriculum and choose the delivery arrangement that best meets the rehabilitation needs of the individuals for whom they are responsible”.

She recommended extending the existing OLASS contracts – which were due to expire in July 2016 – for one more year until July 2017, after which she expected “we will move to all governors having full freedoms over the choice of education providers for their prisons”.

Dame Sally’s recommendations were accepted “in principle” at the time by the MoJ, which said that “implementation plans will now be drawn up”.

The reforms even got a mention in the Queen’s Speech last May.

She said at the time: “Prison governors will be given unprecedented freedom and they will be able to ensure prisoners receive better education.”

They were not mentioned in this year’s Queen’s Speech, on June 21, in which the only nod to FE was a mention of “major reform of technical education”.

Nina Champion, head of policy at the Prisoners’ Education Trust, which works to support learning by people in prison, has now urged David Lidington, the new justice secretary, to “make progress in implementing Sally Coates’ recommendations”.

But she warned that putting in place a new system for prison education “cannot be done in a hurry”.

“There are many charities, organisations and employers who can play a vital role in improving the quality of prison education as well as offering opportunities for learning, training and employment after release, but only if the commissioning process is designed well to enable this to happen in practice,” she said.

The OLASS system was first rolled out across the country in 2006 and the fourth round of contracts were agreed in August 2012.

The process was managed by the Skills Funding Agency until October 2016, when responsibility was handed over to the MoJ.

The four current contract-holders are Manchester College, Milton Keynes College and People Plus, formerly known as A4E, along with Weston College.

Manchester College delivers prison education in five regions: London, the north-east, north-west, Kent and Sussex, and Yorkshire and the Humber.

The east Midlands, west Midlands and south central are covered by Milton Keynes College, while People Plus holds the contract for the east of England.

All three providers declined FE Week’s request for a comment on the contract extension.

Achievement rates at Learndirect fall under minimum standards

The nation’s largest FE provider has been badly shaken by the changes in the way achievement rates are calculated, recording a 7.3 per cent drop that puts it below the government’s minimum standards.

Learndirect’s achievement rate tumbled from 65.1 per cent in 2014/15 to just 57.8 per cent last academic year, according to national data released by the Department for Education on June 15.

This brings it below the minimum standards threshold of 62 per cent, and should mean it will no longer be allowed to deliver apprenticeships until it improves.

But in spite of its poor performance, Learndirect has still not been issued with a notice of concern for failing to meet the minimum standard – even though it is 4.2 points below the threshold.

“We don’t make comments on individual companies, but the list of our notices of concern is regularly updated by the ESFA and will continue to be regularly updated,” said a spokesperson for the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Learndirect is a giant in the sector, with almost 200,000 learners logged in its latest available Ofsted report from 2013, but it has had a rocky time in recent months.

In May, FE Week reported that Learndirect employees had been informed that they were being placed in a month-long consultancy period.

A concerned staff member contacted us to claim that they and their colleagues had been given the news via a “script” delivered in a conference call, and were “expecting to lose [their] jobs in the next month or two”.

FE Week asked Learndirect on the potential for job losses and where cuts were needed.

“As a business we have offered GCSEs as part of our early-years offer,” said a spokesperson.

“There has been a significant lobby to have mandatory GCSE requirements removed from the level three apprenticeship framework, with employers favouring the acceptance of functional skills qualifications.

“As a result, we have decided to remove the GCSE offer from the Learndirect portfolio, while looking at our customers’ ongoing requirements for functional skills.

“Sadly this may mean some colleagues will leave Learndirect.”

The National Achievement Rate Tables for 2015/16 showed significant declines in apprenticeships performance for a number of providers – a drop which may have been caused by the DfE closing “loopholes” in the way the data is collected.

FE Week’s analysis of the latest figures identified 18 providers whose apprenticeship achievement rates had fallen by 30 points or more between 2014/15 and 2015/16.

The biggest drop was by 71.3 points, and half of those providers registering a decline are at the moment rated ‘good’ by Ofsted.

It is believed that many results will have been affected by the DfE’s decision in February to revise achievement rate figures, which it took in an effort to ensure any learners who disappeared or who did not have a completion status for their course were definitely recorded as a ‘fail’.

Previous uncertainty over such learners had been artificially inflating achievement rates for around 10 per cent of providers.

Now the latest adjusted data is in the public domain, FE Week asked Ofsted whether it would be suspending grades for these providers, in order to do a full investigation into the falling achievement rates.

We also asked how the watchdog intends to protect the sector’s confidence in its inspection process without this kind of scrutiny.

Ofsted didn’t answer the questions directly, but did issue a simple statement.

“Ofsted can inspect any apprenticeship provider where there are concerns, including declining performance data.

“This also applies to ‘outstanding’ providers. Ofsted’s risk assessment process takes into account all publicly available data and other intelligence and we keep this under review.”

Ofsted chief stresses ‘real challenge’ with apprenticeships register

Ofsted’s chief inspector has reiterated the “real challenge” faced by the education watchdog following the influx of new training providers who deliver apprenticeships.

Amanda Spielman described the issue as a “big problem” during an interview with Laura McInerney, the editor of FE Week’s sister paper FE Week, at the Festival of Education and Skills today.

But she also revealed that she doesn’t expect the inspectorate to need more resource to deal with the issue, saying she will retain the same number of employees to work in the post-16 system.

Published initially in March, the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers included 1,473 organisations who were given the green light to deliver apprenticeships from May and therefore were in scope for inspection from Ofsted.

Laura McInerney (left) interviewing Amanda Spielman at the Festival of Education and Skills

RoATP was then updated in May, adding 421 providers. The register now sits at 1,894 providers who could be inspected.

After being asked how the inspectorate is coping with the new providers, Ms Spielman said: “First of all my expectation is that some of those will never actually translate into actual provision.

“But as you can imagine it is something that we have got live discussions with government about to make sure that we have [enough resource] and understand where the apprentices are actually being trained to make sure we prioritise the places where there are significant numbers.”

She went on to say that FE Week editor, Nick Linford, has “picked us [Ofsted] up in the past” for inspecting small providers, “but the way the data is held in the system can make it remarkably difficult to be sure that we are going to the places where big numbers are being trained,” she added.

“So there is a real challenge. We have got some unpredictable movements in where the apprentices are over the next couple of years so we will be doing our best to make sure that we track and put our inspection resource into the right places.”

Ms McInerney then asked if as a result of the scale of these new providers, there is a risk that money or staff will have to come over from Ofsted school inspectors to deal with the influx, or if the inspectorate would get more resource to deal with the issue separately.

“Well there are the same number of bodies in the post-16 system so in the first instance it is thinking about how to allocate it to make sure we are putting the effort where people are,” Ms Spielman said.

Amanda Spielman describing the ‘real challenge’ faced by RoATP

Ms McInerney pressed the chief inspector to clarify whether this meant any more resource would be needed, but she replied: “I’m not making any assumptions in the current environment about resources.”

Ms Spielman’s speech today follows an interview with Mr Linford in March where she first revealed her concern about coping with the scale of RoATP.

Later that month at FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference the outgoing boss of the Education and Skills Funding Agency, Peter Lauener, admitted there had been no modelling done by the agency to predict how many providers will eventually end up on the register.

The register now sits at 1,894 providers who could be inspected.

The ESFA RoATP application process will take place four times per year.

Ofsted watch: Local authority provider shakes off inadequate rating

A council-run adult and community learning provider has managed to shake off its previous inadequate rating this week, going up to a grade three.

And a college boosted its rating from requires improvement to good across the board, in the week’s other main highlight.

Leaders at Wakefield Metropolitan District Council’s adult and community learning service were praised by inspectors for having “taken effective steps to re-shape the adult curriculum to support local and national priorities” since its previous inspection in November 2015, which resulted in an inadequate grade.

The latest report into the service, published June 21 but based on an inspection in March, found that “most learners are making good progress” but that “apprentices make slow progress because they do not have challenging targets to work towards”.

Management of the council’s apprenticeship programme was also deemed “weak”.

Milton Keynes College received a grade two across the board – up from its previous grade three – in a report published June 22 and based on a May inspection.

College leaders were lauded for making “rapid progress in building a culture of continual improvement with determination”, with the result that “staff across the college are enthusiastic and apply the improvement strategies effectively to their work”.

Inspectors found that “most students make good progress” as a result of extensive investment in “improving the standards of teaching and learning”.

Apprentices also “make good progress”, “gain valuable skills” and complete their courses on time, the report noted.

But the outcomes for other colleges were less positive this week.

Carshalton College fell to grade three from its previous ‘good’ rating, in a report published June 19 and based on an inspection in early May.

Inspectors noted that achievement rates on many college courses, “particularly GCSE English and mathematics” were “too low”.

College managers were also criticised as they “do not involve employers enough in the design, delivery or assessment of work-based apprenticeships”.

But the report also noted: “Managers help ensure that the college provides high-quality provision for learners with high needs.”

Guildford College retained the ‘requires improvement’ rating it was first awarded in June 2015, in a report published June 20 and based on an inspection in early May.

The “quality of teaching, learning and assessment” was found to be in need of improvement, while the proportion of learners achieving their qualifications was “too low”.

But the report noted that: “Governors and senior leaders now have an accurate understanding of college performance, are able to identify strengths and weaknesses and have clear and realistic plans to secure the improvements required.”

As previously reported by FE Week, Mid-Cheshire College retained the grade four it was first awarded in March last year, in a report published June 22 that lambasted the college’s performance.

Meanwhile, independent learning provider The Consultancy Home Counties Limited boosted its grade up to ‘good’ from its previous ‘requires improvement’, in a report published June 22 but based on an inspection in late April.

Inspectors praised the Hertfordshire-based provider for having “worked assiduously” to improve provision since the previous inspection, in May 2015.

“Leaders have a passionate and realistic vision which transforms the lives of young people, many from disadvantaged backgrounds,” the report said.

Two adult and community learning providers held onto their ‘good’ ratings following full inspections this week.

Apprentices at Rathbone Training make “good progress” and develop “good vocational and employability skills”, according to a report published June 23 and based on an inspection in mid-May.

Leaders at the provider, which is part of the Newcastle College Group, were also commended for having “nurtured highly effective relationships with many small- and medium-sized local enterprises, local enterprise partnerships, and large organisations nationally to provide education and training to meet sector skill priorities”.

Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council’s “good range of programmes and opportunities” was found to “successfully attract and engage learners facing the greatest challenges”, in a report published June 21 and based on an inspection in late May.

Inspectors noted that “support to ensure that all learners succeed is very effective”, and the “large majority of current learners are making good progress in their learning”.

Gateway Sixth Form College was found to be making reasonable progress in five areas, and significant progress in one area, in a monitoring visit report published June 22 – the second such visit since its inadequate rating in October 2016.

Just one provider held onto its good rating following a short inspection this week – adult and community learning provider Alliance Learning.

GFE Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Milton Keynes College 23/05/2017 22/06/2017 2 3
Mid-Cheshire College of Further Education 09/05/2017 22/06/2017 4 4
Guildford College of Further and Higher Ed 09/05/2017 20/06/2017 3 3
Carshalton College 09/05/2017 19/06/2017 3 2

 

Sixth Form Colleges Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Gateway Sixth Form College 24/05/2017 22/06/2017 M M

 

Independent Learning Providers Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
The Consultancy Home Counties Limited 25/04/2017 22/06/2017 2 3

 

Adult and Community Learning Inspected Published Grade Previous grade
Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council 23/05/2017 21/06/2017 2 2
Wakefield Metropolitan District Council 21/03/2017 21/06/2017 3 4
Rathbone Training 16/05/2017 23/06/2017 2 2

 

Short inspections (remains grade 2) Inspected Published
Alliance Learning 23/05/2017 21/06/2017