Long-awaited area review guidance and updates have finally been published by the Department for Education – three months after they were first expected.

The implementation guidance, due diligence framework and guidance for local authorities and local enterprise partnerships were all due to have been published in July.

But they were finally released this morning, alongside updated guidance and application forms for the restructuring facility and for sixth form colleges to convert to academy status, and full details of the areas and colleges involved in waves four and five of the reviews.

A letter from FE Commissioner Sir David Collins about the progress of the area reviews to date, originally sent to college chairs and principals in August, also accompanied the newly-published documents.

Today’s publication comes after Bobbie McClelland, deputy director of the DfE’s reforming FE provision unit, told FE Week’s area review summit on July 6 that the documents were to be published before the parliamentary summer recess, which began on July 21.

But they were understood to have been held up by the widespread FE-related changes to government caused by the EU referendum in June.

Despite this, as previously reported by FE Week, a draft version of the implementation guidance had been unofficially circulating among colleges since July – sparking a row over a lack of transparency in the area review process.

And DfE officials, including Ms McClelland, apparently side-stepped ministerial sign-off on the documents earlier this month, by giving presentations on the then-unpublished documents at an Education and Training Foundation area review conference.

There is still no sign of the reports into the first wave of reviews to have completed, which are understood to include full details of each review’s recommendations.

These were also expected in July, but have yet to be published.

A DfE spokesperson denied that the guidance had been delayed.

Apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon has dubbed the University Technical College programme “excellent”, despite ten per cent of the 14 to 19 institutions closing just six years since they were first introduced.

In his first major speech in his current role, Mr Halfon told the audience of the Edge Foundation Annual lecture: “I actually love UTCs … I think UTCs are incredible.”

Speaking at Westminster Kingsway College today (October 19), Mr Halfon said he disagreed with the comments made yesterday in a Times article, entitled ‘Technical colleges flop as they fail to recruit pupils’.

He said: “The Times in my view has got it utterly wrong.

“If you just judge a school by its exams results – fine. But what you should judge a school by is the destination and whether people get jobs and skills afterwards.”

The Times’ article echoed FE Week findings from October 7, which showed that more than 10 per cent of university technical colleges are now expected to close, only six years since the first was opened.

The latest to close its doors will be Royal Greenwich UTC in London, which Greenwich Council is converting into a secondary school at a cost of £13m.

Royal Greenwich UTC will become Greenwich Trust School from next September, just two years after it opened as a 14-to-19 institute.

FE Week analysis in February showed that the college, which has a capacity of 600, had just 257 students during the last academic year – representing a 35 per cent drop from the 397 who attended in 2014-15.

Its closure marked the fifth UTC out of 48 to shut up shop since they were launched in 2010.

Our February investigation discovered that student numbers had fallen at 40 per cent of UTCs that opened between 2010 and 2013.

Four other UTCs – UTC Lancashire, Central Bedfordshire UTC, Hackney UTC and Black Country UTC – have all closed with reports of low student numbers.

The Department for Education meanwhile confirmed last month that a proposed UTC developed in partnership with Burton and South Derbyshire College would not now open, despite the £8m the government had already spent setting it up.

Just last week, Heathrow Aviation Engineering UTC was issued a financial notice to improve due to an “apparent loss of financial control”.

The UTC, which opened in north London in September 2014, has a 600-pupil capacity, but just 231 on roll as of January.

Despite these findings, Mr Halfon commented that he welcomes the work of Lord Baker, one of the founders of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust which promotes UTCs, and added that although the UTC programme “will take time” it will “show clear benefits to students in the long term”.

He admitted, however, that UTCs “can be improved”, and said that work is being done to achieve this change.

Mr Halfon kept is focus on the destinations of UTC students, which he described as “an extraordinary result”.

He said: “Over the past year, just 0.5 per cent people who have left UTCs are – in fact I hate this word – so called ‘NEETs’.

“And 44 percent have gone on to university, 28 per cent have gone on to apprenticeship and many have done to do other things. 17 per cent I think have gone into work.

“It’s an extraordinary result if you look at it in terms of destination.”

When questioned about the problems with student recruitment in UTCs by FE Week editor Nick Linford, Mr Halfon stressed that “there are over 40 UTC colleges still”.

Responding during a question and answer session after his lecture, he said: “Lord Baker is very passionate about education starting at 14 – I am looking at that.

“There is another UTC minister as you know, Lord Nash, who looks at these things.”

He added: “My view is that we look at what works, and then take the evidence from that.”

Richard Atkins’ appointment as the new FE commissioner has been confirmed by the Department for Education – almost a month after FE Week first reported the news.

He will take over the role from current FE commissioner Sir David Collins, who will retire in November.

Mr Atkins was principal of Exeter College from 2002 until March 2016, and retired on a high after the college received an Ofsted grade one in 2014.

He was president of the Association of Colleges in 2014/15, appointed a CBE in the most recent New Year’s Honours list for this services to FE and became an Ofsted board member in July.

Mr Atkins said he was “delighted and honoured” to be appointed the new FE Commissioner.

“I am keen to build on the work that Sir David Collins and his team have begun over the past 2 years, and to work with colleagues in colleges to develop a high-quality and financially sustainable network of colleges across England which provide the very best technical and professional education for learners, employers and local communities,” he said.

Sir David congratulated Mr Atkins’ on his appointment, and said: “Richard will bring extensive experience of further education and skills training to the role and I am confident this will prove invaluable in continuing the work of the commissioner. I welcome him to the role.”

Apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon joined Sir David in congratulating Mr Atkins.

He said: “High-quality further education colleges are engines of social mobility, creating opportunities for people of all backgrounds to get the skills they need to succeed.

“In Exeter and Yeovil, Richard has demonstrated that he is an exceptional leader.

“I am confident that he will use his skills to improve delivery and unlock opportunities for learners across the country to go further in learning and their careers.”

Alongside Mr Atkins’ appointment, the DfE has also confirmed that current deputy commissioner Marilyn Hawkins will step down from the role alongside Sir David, after leading the completion of the area review process in London.

Three existing FE advisers – Steve Hutchinson, Cindy Rampersaud and Andrew Tyley – have been promoted to deputy commissioners, bringing the number of FE deputies to five.