The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has pulled the delayed national achievement rate tables (NART) for providers from its website, after FE Week alerted it to a series of errors in the data.

The long-awaited tables were uploaded this morning, but a number of mistakes led the agency to take the information down again until they had been rectified.

A notice on the site said the 2014 to 2015 education and training NART overall institution spreadsheet was “temporarily removed for revision” and a spokesperson from the SFA subsequently thanked FE Week for highlighting the problems and confirmed they were the result of “human error”.

Mistakes in the data included the achievement rate percentage totalling over 100 per cent for the ’ethnicity’ column and the achievement rate and retention rate being the wrong way around in the ‘delivery LEP’ column.

It comes after the SFA twice delayed publication of the 2014/15 nationwide qualification achievement rates (QAR).

FE Week described in December 2015 how the publication of the QAR for 2014/15 had been pushed back, with promises it would be published “towards the end of March”.

The data would normally have been published in January and the rates were also missing from the Statistical First Release publication at the end of March, owing to “changes to the collection and storage of the data”.

The twice-delayed QARs were finally made available on April 5, via new interactive dashboards on the SFA’s online hub.

However, the dashboards did not include the facility to view national averages for individual qualifications – information that has been available in previous years, before the introduction of the interactive dashboards.

This led a number of providers to complain about the missing information through the SFA’s FE Connect forums in the days following the QAR publication.

In an answer to an FE Week Freedom of Information request over development costs, the SFA said that the new ‘Birst’ QAR data dashboard cost a one-off sum of £153,000 to develop in 2014/15, but would subsequently require only £58,000 per year to run.

It claimed that this should result in annual savings of 65 per cent, when compared with the £164,000 the old system cost in 2013/14, using multiple PDF annual reports that were sent out to providers.

However, sector representatives told FE Week that they were worried the new dashboard could shift the burdens of time and expense onto them.

Ofqual has announced Julie Swan as its new executive director for general qualifications.

She will take up the position permanently after a spell as the acting executive director when her predecessor, Ian Stockford, left the exams regulator to join AQA in December.

Ms Swan (pictured) has worked for Ofqual for seven years and was most recently associate director for regulatory policy.

She said that she appreciated “there are significant challenges ahead” as the organisation continues with reform of GCSEs and A-levels.

Major changes to the qualifications include the first awarding of new AS levels this summer, and the introduction of a new GCSE grading system from next year.

The late accreditation of new exam specifications is also causing concern among teachers who have been unable to plan lessons and could delay subject textbooks — leaving teachers without crucial resources when students return in September.

FE Week’s sister paper FE Week reported in March that more than half of the new GCSEs and A-levels had not yet been accredited.

To date, 129 of 147 of the new GCSEs and A-levels have been approved.

Ms Swan is the second high-profile appointment at Ofqual this year after Sally Collier was chosen as chief regulator in March following the departure of Glenys Stacey.

Ms Collier, a former civil servant, admitted in a parliamentary committee that she will need several months before she is up to speed with all the changes.

Ms Collier said she was “very pleased” about the new appointment and that Swan had “provided strong leadership over the past six months.”

FE has drawn the spotlight of the national press, after the government refused to rule out a hike in the levy after its launch next April.

City A.M.’s front page today raised concern that the chancellor could look to raise extra income from businesses – through new revenue raising measures, including a potential increase of the levy.

It came after Greg Hands (pictured above), chief secretary to the Treasury, was asked in a parliamentary question from Labour what the rate and threshold of the levy would be in in 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Mr Hands declined to give a clear answer, saying: “The government has confirmed that the apprenticeship levy will be set at a rate of 0.5 per cent of company paybill and every employer will have a £15,000 allowance to offset against their levy liability.

“In practice, this means only employers with paybills greater than £3m will pay the levy.”

But he added: “As with all policies, the government will keep the apprenticeship levy under review.”

Calls have been made for greater clarity, following complaints that the prospect of the levy being hiked adds yet another concern about the scheme.

Skills minister, Gordon Marsden, said it seemed “inevitable” the government would end up raising the levy.

He commented: “Having tried to duck answering our parliamentary question first time round, the minister has had to admit that the Treasury could now increase the levy rate on a yearly basis.

“The more we hear from various sources about how the levy will now need to fund the top up, the devolved administrations, English and maths at level two and disadvantaged learners, incentive payments and non-levy payers, the more it seems inevitable that the government will end up raising the levy.”

He added: “This just adds further to the mounting chorus of concerns from employers and providers about the government’s handling of the levy’s implementation from 2017.”

The Confederation of British Industry, which suggested on April 28 that the start date for the levy should be delayed unless a “radical review” took place, said that it would be “unjustified to raise [levy] rates”.

Scott Corfe, director at the Centre for Economics and Business Research think tank, added:  “As weaker economic growth is likely to leave the chancellor missing his deficit reduction targets by a wider margin, revenue-raising measures could take the form of new types of business taxes, such as the apprenticeship levy.”

The government has been criticised for largely ignoring the role of FE colleges play with delivering degree level provision in its new white paper on higher education.

There were only three mentions of FE colleges throughout the 83-page document, called Success as a knowledge economy: Teaching Excellence, Social Mobility and Student Choice, which was unveiled by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills this morning.

This provoked criticism from Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden that it “consistently talks simply about universities and possible new universities — yet it ignores the role of FE colleges and providers which currently deliver at least 10 per cent of all HE participation”.

The white paper did acknowledge that “the growth in FE colleges and alternative providers offering higher education has significantly changed the marketplace and how students study”.

It added that the government would introduce a range of reforms to the way in which providers can award their own higher education qualifications through degree awarding powers (DAPs).

It said: “DAPs in the current system are all or nothing — designed around traditional large, established, multifaculty providers.

“This system is both outdated and insufficiently flexible, so we will create a suite of options for those wishing to award their own degrees in the future.

“We will allow providers who meet our demanding quality standards to secure full degree awarding powers more quickly, after three years of operation.

“High quality providers will also be able to award foundation or taught degrees on a probationary basis when they first start operating, subject to some restrictions on scope.”

Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC) said: “This step change away from the country’s traditional university system will empower more people than ever before to access HE in their local area through a college.”

It comes after colleges were granted foundation degree awarding powers in 2011 — although there was limited uptake from the sector.

The document published today added: “In our green paper, we proposed that only providers with 50 per cent of their students on higher education courses would be eligible for teaching excellence framework (TEF).

“Many stakeholders made a compelling case against what they saw as an arbitrary ban on other providers operating in the higher education sector.

“FE colleges, for example, may individually only have a minority of their learners on higher education courses, but collectively deliver a significant amount of higher education provision.”

It added that having considered such responses, “we have decided to expand eligibility for TEF year one to all providers that deliver undergraduate provision, including at levels four”.

It also said that part-time courses would also be incorporated from year one as a result of the responses to the consultation.

The white paper also stated that a single market regulator, the Office for Students (OfS) would combine the existing regulatory functions of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and Office for Fair Access (OFFA).

“It [OfS] will have clearer and consistent powers to regulate the sector, by attaching regulatory conditions to providers that enter the system,” it added.

“The conditions will be consistent between all types of providers – higher education institutions, alternative providers, FE colleges and new entrants.”

The BIS white paper comes two weeks after FE Week exclusively revealed details of the postponed skills white paper, which will be the first of its kind in a decade.

Now expected before the government goes into purdah on May 27, ahead of the EU referendum, the skills white paper is due to outline how16-year-olds will have to choose between academic courses leading to university or a new technical professional education (TPE) route into work.

The plans are expected to reflect findings of an independent panel, led by Lord Sainsbury, to look into technical and professional education (TPE) plans.

The FE Commissioner has endorsed a three-way merger plan between colleges in the Midlands, even though concern is rising in the sector that too many providers are being rushed into joining forces.

Dr David Collins’ new report on City College Coventry has concluded that there appeared “to be no insuperable barriers to progress” its plans to join-up with neighbouring institutions, based on a visit from his team in February.

The merger would involve nearby Henley College, and Hereward College — with all three part of the Coventry and Warwickshire area review, which only very recently had its first steering group meeting, on May 4.

However the University and College Union’s head of FE, Andrew Harden, told FE Week that “too many college mergers are being put forward” in haste, as poor solutions “to financial issues brought about by government funding cuts, or to pre-empt the outcomes of area reviews”.

He said: “Partnership working can bring benefits, but rushed or forced mergers based mainly on financial or sustainability concerns risk stripping away local learning opportunities and disenfranchising large groups of learners.”

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, also criticised the speed of the mergers, claiming that colleges joining forces before final area review recommendations were released made “a mockery out of the whole process”.

Skills Minister Nick Boles himself warned in parliament last month against colleges rushing into mergers ahead of area reviews.

FE Week reported on April 7 that 15 mergers were on the cards during 2016, and more have been announced since then, including a link-up between Lowestoft and East Norfolk sixth form colleges.

Dr Collins’ report on City College Coventry noted the board’s view that the FE offer in Coventry “is not organised such as to give maximum benefit to students and the local economy”.

Amongst the recommendations it made, it said: “The college should work with them [the other two colleges] to consider methodically a full range of options for creating a robust FE curriculum for Coventry, including relationships with higher education.”

The three colleges said in a statement that their dialogue, “though still at an early stage, is proceeding well and developing along productive lines”.

The statement added: “None of this activity means that the Coventry colleges have closed minds as far as the area review is concerned.

“However, we feel there should be a strong, distinctively Coventry component to any realignment of FE in the region.”

Dr Collins’ report also found that City College Coventry, which has been hit with two inadequate Ofsted ratings in three years, was “clearly failing too many of its students”, but that it had “a number of strengths which, if deployed vigorously and over time, can turn this institution around”.

A spokesperson for the college told FE Week that it had been “involved in a fundamental review” of its priorities since November, and had taken advice from a “wide range of stakeholders” including the FE Commissioner.

“We found that process extremely useful and constructive, and our improvement plan addresses all of the recommendations made in the report,” the spokesperson said.

Three mergers involving five FE colleges and one sixth form college (SFC) have been proposed as part of the Tees Valley area review, which has become the second area review to reach its conclusion.

The outcomes of the review, which was part of wave one of the area reviews, were published today in a statement by Tees Valley Combined Authority.

Six colleges and four SFCs were involved in the review, which had its first steering group on October 1.

The proposed mergers are between Middlesbrough College and Redcar and Cleveland College; Darlington College and Stockton Riverside College; and Hartlepool College and Hartlepool Sixth Form College.

Cleveland College of Art and Design will remain as an independent institution to build on its art and design specialism, the statement said.

As reported by FE Week, Prior Pursglove SFC and Stockton SFC have already merged to form Prior Pursglove and Stockton SFC. The newly-merged institution will now pursue academisation, and will either establish its own multi-academy trust (MAT) or join one with local schools, the statement said.

The remaining SFC, Queen Elizabeth SFC, will remain independent while also pursuing academisation as part of a MAT.

Gill Alexander, Hartlepool Council chief executive, said:  “These proposals will create a system which delivers world-class further education in the Tees Valley and which fully meets the needs of local young people, adults and employers.”

She continued: “By collaborative, partnership working we can benefit from further education opportunities that will give young people and adults the skills and qualifications to get into work and have successful careers in Tees Valley or beyond.”

Tees Valley is just the second of the seven areas involved in wave one of the area reviews to have reached the end of the process – despite all seven areas having begun in September or October.

As reported by FE Week, the Birmingham and Solihull area review ended in early March with just one proposed merger.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills initially advised in September that post-16 education and skills area reviews should take three to four months to complete — then extended this to four to six months in a second guidance document published in March.

Prison governors are set to be given direct power to hire providers for offender education — following publication today of the results of an influential review.

Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) contracts, held at present by three colleges and one independent learning provider, are currently given out by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA).

But prison governors will be handed responsibility for contracting with providers, from July next year, through the planned Prison and Courts Reform Bill.

It is one of a number of reforms set to be based on the recommendations of an inquiry by Dame Sally Coates (pictured above).

She said in the report that from August 2017, “I would expect that, in line with the wider implementation of prison reform, we will move to all governors having full freedoms over the choice of education providers for their prisons”.

The change was mentioned in the Queen’s Speech today.

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

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told FE Week today that it could not say for certain, at present, if future contracts would only be given to FE providers.

Former head teacher Dame Coates recommended that current OLASS contracts, due to end in July, should be extended for another year to allow time for a phased introduction of the reforms.

She added governors of reform prisons – which are expected to be created through the same bill – should be “given the full budget for their education services and the ability to opt out of all, or part of, their OLASS arrangements and choose their own providers”.

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

Manchester College holds them for London, the North East, North West, Kent and Sussex, and Yorkshire and Humber.

Barbara McDonough, chief operating officer for Novus, the college’s offender learning service, said: “The proposal for governor autonomy and ownership is key and one we have been championing.

“Overall we believe this report accurately reflects the challenges the sector is facing and welcome the recommendations,” she concluded.

Milton Keynes College holds contracts in East Midlands, West Midlands and South Central.

Jason Mansell, director of offender learning at the college, welcomed the findings of the review.

“We believe that governor autonomy for the provision of education, and governor accountability for educational progress of all prisoners within their establishments, is key to driving the prioritisation and improvement of all learning consistently across the prison estate,” he said.

A further recommendation from the report is to ensure that each prisoner has a personal learning plan which specifies the education they will do during their time in prison.

Another would make the quality and effectiveness of education in prisons one of the key functions that informs any overall assessment of a prison.

The report also recommended that prisons be inspected by Ofsted using the same criteria as for FE and skills providers, and the inspection reports should include the same level of detail and format as for other providers.

An ‘inadequate’ or second ‘requires improvement’ judgement on the overall effectiveness of a prison’s education provision should “lead to specific action urgently to improve the leadership and management of the prison”, the report said.

The Ministry of Justice has accepted in principle all of the report’s recommendations, and is now working on an implementation plan, it said in a statement.

No one was available to comment from Weston College, which holds the OLASS contract for the South West of England.

People Plus, formerly known as A4E, which holds the contract for East of England, declined to comment.