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Marsden ‘very disappointed’ as assurances on IfA announcements fail to deliver

Delays to the release of key details about the Institute for Apprenticeships are “very disappointing” evidence of a “haphazard” approach from the government, shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden has said.

In a Public Bill Committee hearing on November 22, Peter Lauener, shadow chief executive of the IfA (pictured right), suggested to Mr Marsden that information – including a draft of the government’s strategic guidance for the institute, an operational plan and the successful candidates for posts at the institute – would be revealed before Christmas.

But a ‘Trailblazer Times’ newsletter, sent by the Department for Education to apprenticeship employer groups today (December 22), has confirmed that these important points will now be delayed until “early in the New Year”.

The newsletter, which was signed by Carl Cresswell, deputy director for apprenticeships at the DfE, said that the department will be consulting on a draft of the government’s strategic guidance for the institute and an operational plan will be launched for public consultation in January.

This plan will “set out further detail on the role of the institute, including proposals for how it will deliver its functions; and key objectives for its first year of operation and up to 2020”.

The IfA’s board members, chosen from 300 applicants, will also be announced next month.

Speaking in November, Mr Lauener told Mr Marsden: “The process for appointing members of the institute is substantially complete … I would be surprised if there was not an announcement before Christmas.

“Incidentally, we are also planning to publish for consultation the Government’s remit letter in draft to the institute, and I would also expect, again before Christmas, a draft of the institute’s first strategic plan.”

Mr Marsden told FE Week today that the delayed release of information about the IfA was frustrating for the progress of the Technical and Further Education Bill through Parliament, as it sets out the government’s proposals to expand the role of the institute in April 2018 to include college-based technical education.

He said: “It’s very disappointing that the department has failed to deliver any of the assurances that Peter Lauener gave the bill committee in parliament last November that we would have an announcement about the new institute’s membership, its remit, and its strategic plan.

“This is not good for a proper and thoughtful discussion with employers and stakeholders, which will now have to come later in January with a very tight timetable for the implementation of the institute, and with the bill itself coming back for final decision in the commons straight new year.”

He added: “It’s rather symptomatic of the haphazard way in which the government has been dealing with the institute all along.”

FE Week had previously asked the DfE for details on the release date of new information about the IfA, but had not received a response or any comment at the time of publication.

It is not the first time Mr Marsden has been left waiting for answers about the IfA -in November he told FE Week the government’s handling of the institute was “shambolic”, after it evaded a series of parliamentary enquiries about its capacity.

Despite the tight timeframe and the IfA’s new responsibilities, Mr Marsden was told that the government was “not yet able to set out initial staff numbers”, because the “detailed structure” of the IfA was still in development.

At the time he said it was “absolutely pressing” that plans were finalised.

The Trailblazer Times newsletter also announced that the department will now be asking bidders who want to introduce new apprenticeship standards to explain which of the 15 technical education routes outlined in the recent Skills Plan their proposal aligns to.

It said: “Over time, occupational maps will be become available for each of the 15 routes.

“As and when they become available we will ask bidders to specify which occupations within the route map their proposed standard covers.”

Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, responded to this, saying: “When Sainsbury was published, we highlighted that 57 per cent of jobs in our economy are outside the review recommendations’ scope, so we are in danger of creating an elitist system that would deny many young people a work based learning route to level two or three.

“What are employers on the trailblazers in areas such as retail supposed to do if their sector doesn’t fit into one of the 15 routes? Will their standard get rejected?”

He added: “AELP has been saying that putting apprenticeships and technical education under the same IfA roof is going to throw up some big challenges that only can only be overcome if we see proper joined-up policymaking.

“This newsletter suggests that we have some way to go towards achieving this and it underlines why we really need a pause on the whole standards and end-point assessment process.”

EFA announces no change to 16-18 funding rates

The Education Funding Agency has announced that the national base funding rates of £4,000 per full time student aged 16 to 17 and £3,300 for 18 year olds will remain unchanged for the academic year 2017 to 2018.

The update will come as a disappointment to the Association of Colleges, which has been lobbying the government to increase the funding rate.

In its Autumn Statement Submission in October the AoC published 20 recommendations, with the funding rate third on its list.

It said: “The national base rate for 16 and 17-year-olds (currently £4,000) should be increased so that it provides the necessary funds for high-quality education.”

But in today’s (December 21) letter from the EFA to providers, Peter Mucklow, national director for young people, wrote: “The national base rates of £4,000 per full time student aged 16 to 17 and £3,300 for 18 year olds are maintained for academic year 2017 to 2018 as are the part time funding rates.

“This is in line with the commitment made in the 2015 Spending Review.”

The letter also covered traineeships. Mr Mucklow wrote: “We will continue to ensure that funding supports institutions growing traineeship numbers.

“If you have exceptional growth in traineeships in academic year 2016 to 2017, please submit a business case using our online enquiry form after the R06 data window closes. We will then review cases in March 2017 and inform you of the result in April 2017.”

He added: “We will confirm the deadline and criteria for business cases in late January 2017 via our e-bulletin.”

A spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers said: ‘It’s good to see the EFA’s commitment to support growth in traineeships.

“However we have said to ministers that the whole funding system for the programme needs review because growth has generally been modest.

“Uncertainty surrounding the programme’s long-term future with devolution on the horizon is also holding back provider investment in it.”

In addressing high needs funding, Mr Mucklow announced that the EFA is “proposing to introduce a new national formula for distributing high needs funding to local authorities”.

He wrote: “The department launched a second consultation on the high needs national funding formula on 14 December. Please feel free to

respond to this new consultation, which runs until 22 March 2017.”

Other areas covered in the letter included: formula protection funding, maths and English, student support (including free meals), lagged student numbers, 19+ continuing students, disadvantage block 2, and the allocations process and timeline.

Mr Mucklow also confirmed that the EFA will be moving forward with plans to phase out Formula Protection Funding, with 2020/21 the final year it is payable.

Scotland to spend less than half their levy funding on apprenticeships

The Scottish government has announced that its use of the apprenticeships levy will be more flexible than in England, funding a “range of employment measures”.

Less than half of Scotland’s estimated £221m levy funding in 2017-18 will be used for apprenticeships, with the rest to be spent on a range of workforce development and pre-employment support programmes.

In contrast, the share of the levy funding for England, which will reach close to £2.5bn by 2019-20, is all ring-fenced for funding apprentices employees working for the majority of their time in England.

This broader approach from the Scottish government may frustrate employers in England.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, expressed concerns about this restricted use of the funds in a speech on April 28, saying: “When it comes to training – business knows best.

“They should have the flexibility to choose the kind of training which is right for them, whether it’s labelled an ‘apprenticeship’ or not.

“Other levy systems in Ireland, Germany, Denmark, France and Quebec, give greater flexibility on spend than the UK Government is proposing. So it can be done – and this is how our levy should work too.”

The apprenticeship levy will come into play in April 2017, meaning larger employers pay 0.5 per cent of their annual wage bill above £3m directly to the HMRC.

A spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers questioned the strategy, saying: “We have to recognise that the Scottish government’s decision not to ring-fence its share of the levy for apprenticeships only has been taken after a consultation, although we are aware that there are employers north of the border who aren’t happy about this.

“It surely wouldn’t be in the Scottish economy’s interests if these employers started shifting their apprenticeship training into England as some are warning.”

Commenting on Scotland’s approach, Jamie Hepburn MSP, minister for employability and training, said: “We will use the apprenticeship levy to give the workplace more options and flexibility.

“While we will boost modern apprenticeships we will also address skills gaps and the training needs of existing employees where a full apprenticeship might not be appropriate.”

He added: “We have responded to the needs of employers by announcing an approach that is much broader than is currently proposed in England, and that will support skills, training and employment.”

In guidance released in August, the Welsh government proposed a similar approach to the Scottish use of the apprenticeship levy, though said the decision was a work in progress.

The document stated: “We are working with the UK Government and the other devolved administrations to resolve a range of cross border issues.

“We recognise that there is a need to maintain flexibility to enable employers to choose whatever training is best for their business.

“The issues are complex and need to be properly considered. They are likely to take some time to progress.”

Here’s how Scotland plan to spend their levy:

Public Accounts Committee warning over ‘high risk’ devolution plans

“High risk” devolution plans giving local enterprise partnerships widespread adult education budget spending powers must be subjected to far more stringent scrutiny, a new Public Accounts Committee report has warned.

The document was unveiled this morning, with committee chair Meg Hillier (pictured) insisting “every pound of public money” spent by LEPs and other relevant local bodies “must be a pound parliament can trace”.

It comes after an investigation published by the Mail Online alleged that LEPs had made more than 270 payments to companies, or other projects, connected with their own board members, with sums for example ranging from £13,000 to £1 million.

Question marks over accountability matter deeply to FE, with LEPs already in control much of the funds available to providers for capital spending – and last month’s autumn statement confirmed that the government is pushing ahead with plans to devolve the AEB.

The findings prompted Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, to hit out at “a system set up in a manner that leads to institutional bias”.

The new PAC report has raised further concerns about scrutiny, transparency and accountability, stressing that “taxpayers must be able to understand who is spending their money, how that money is allocated and where responsibility lies if the system fails to deliver good value or things go wrong”.

A spokesperson stressed: “This includes the ‘opaque’ nature of accountability for the activities of LEPs – designed to bring together the public and private sector – which are now negotiating local growth deals funded by a £12 billion fund over a five-year period”.

Ms Hillier complained today that the message coming from government was that combined authorities had signed up for devolution and “it’s over to them – full stop”.

But she said: “This high-risk strategy is squarely in the sights of our committee. Our concerns are not addressed to the policy of devolution but rather the risks inherent in its implementation.

“Every pound of public money spent by an elected mayor, LEP or other body must be a pound parliament can trace. Spending must face robust scrutiny.”

A LEP-funded report published in October by Metro-Dynamics, called ‘Leading the way’, previously came out in support of greater transparency.

It said: “LEPs need to continue to ensure that they are known for having the best possible approach to transparency and governance in terms of decision-making and spending.”

The chairman of the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership, Mark Reeve, told FE Week on behalf of the LEP Network Board, that “all LEPs take any allegations of improper conduct extremely seriously”.

“LEPs continuously seek ways to improve transparency and share best practice,” he said.

“It is not the role of the LEP Network to monitor how LEPs allocate grant funding or assess conflicts of interest.

“The government has clearly vested that role in the democratically elected councils who are accountable for monitoring conflicts of interest and ensuring how grant funding is awarded by the LEPs.”

A government spokesperson said: “Our rules make clear the need for a published conflicts of interest policy and insist upon transparency in the way taxpayers’ money is spent.

“We won’t hesitate to act if any LEPs are found to have failed to follow our rules.”

Ofsted criticises ‘financial mismanagement’ at college preparing to join with university

Governors have been criticised for being slow to recognise “financial mismanagement” at Lambeth College, in new report unveiled by Oftsed.

The grade three across the board report, published by the inspectorate today, recognised that “clearer and firmer arrangements” had recently been put in place to ensure governors’ “oversight of the college’s corporate functions”.

But it warned: “In the last academic year, governors were slow to recognise key indicators of financial mismanagement at the college.”

A spokesperson for the provider, which had over 6,000 learners at the time of the inspection, told FE Week today: “The governors and senior managers accept the findings of the Ofsted inspection and are pleased to have had the opportunity to demonstrate that errors made in the past are not being repeated in the present.”

The report comes three days after Lambeth announced it was pushing ahead with plans to join forces with London South Bank University.

“Following the recommendations of the government area review of post-16 education for central London, Lambeth College is delighted with the decision…to join the London South Bank University family in principle and subject to the development of a full business case,” a spokesperson said.

Minutes from a meeting of the college corporation held in July indicated problems.

“The 2015/16 deficit forecast brought to the board on March 10, 2016, had been at £500k, but had now gone up to £5.6 million,” it said.

FE Week subsequently asked the Department for Education if the Skills Funding Agency had bailed out the college.

A spokesperson for the agency said in response that “exceptional financial support” had been provided.

The LSBU family consists of the university, UTC and academy, together with a company called South Bank University Enterprises Ltd.

The college, which was allocated just over £11m from the adult education budget for 2016/17 as of September, said joining the group would offer it operational stability, while also helping to build clear learning pathways for students.

FE Week asked a spokesperson if the move would mean Lambeth would no longer be an independent corporation.

She said in response: “The exact structure of the college within the LSBU family is not yet decided upon.”

Mary McCormack, chair of governors, said: “We are confident this exciting and innovative partnership will broaden and increase the opportunities for Lambeth College students to progress from FE into higher level apprenticeships, higher education and employment.”

Professor David Phoenix, vice-chancellor at LSBU, added: “Post-16 education is a critical part of the fabric of our society and employers are calling for a more highly educated and skilled workforce.

“Welcoming Lambeth College into this exciting and innovative model with the LSBU family is an excellent opportunity to enhance the provision of FE across south London.”

It comes after FE Week reported in November that Lewisham Southwark College, which last year became the first college ever to receive two ‘inadequate’ ratings from Ofsted in a row, had explored a number of what it called “potential options” to improve in the wake of the London (central) area review, according to a spokesperson.

Options under consideration included separate mergers with two nearby institutions: London South Bank University and Lambeth College.

Both options were deemed unviable by the bosses at Lewisham. The college said at the time it was instead revisiting its “preferred” proposal – of merging with Newcastle College Group, based in the north-east of England.

Find out which organisations can assess the most apprenticeship standards

A big three familiar names dominate the updated list of 33 approved assessment organisations – taking responsibility for end point assessments with almost a third of new apprenticeship standards.

City and Guilds tops the list, having signed-up to assess 18, followed by Pearson Education with 16, and NOCN with 11, according to the updated register published by the Skills Funding Agency this morning.

It means they are together responsible for assessments with 45 out of a total of 153 standards cleared by the agency as ready for delivery.

Edwina McQueen, director of apprenticeships at City & Guilds, said: “City & Guilds has made a significant investment in developing end-point assessments to date as we know that they are an essential part of creating a high quality and efficient apprenticeship system in the UK.

“We have already developed end-point assessments for 18 occupations, more than any other awarding organisation, and have many more in the pipeline which will be released next year, including customer service and digital.”

She added: “Developing end-point assessment for each occupation requires a significant investment in creating assessment instruments and in developing the right support systems.

“At City & Guilds we have been planning this for some time and have a plan in place which includes assessment of existing published occupations and a strong focus on the needs of the future marketplace.”

Courses to be assessed by City and Guilds include for golf greenkeepers and property maintenance operatives at level two, and level four software developer.

City and Guilds has also developed end-point assessment for some occupations that are not yet out for tender.

Pearson covered standards including dental laboratory assistant, motor vehicle service and maintenance technician (light vehicle), and water process technician, all at level three.

A spokesperson for Pearson said: “We welcome the opportunity to continue to apply to the register and are reviewing each standard on a case by case basis.

“We are committed to ensuring that our end-point assessments deliver high quality apprenticeships.”

NOCN has approval to assess standards, for example covering adult care workers, and financial services customer adviser at level two, science manufacturing technician at level three.

Graham Hasting-Evans, managing director of NOCN, told FE Week: “We have [actually] been successfully appointed to deliver 14 end-point assessments in seven sectors [because the portal is not yet fully updated] making us third in the national league.

“We have worked towards this for the last four years, being fully committed financially and operationally.

“We have systems and staff now in place and we are ready to deliver, that is why we’re featuring so heavily in the AAO list – we’re here because we can do the job, plain and simple.”

It comes as FE Week revealed today (December 15) that under half of apprenticeship standards approved for delivery still have no approved assessment organisation, according to exclusive analysis of new data, despite recent assurance by SFA boss Peter Lauener and apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon.

Failed UTC site used as cheap accommodation

Young professionals are living in a disused Walsall university technical college site, after the 14-19 institution was forced to closed in April last year.

Black Country UTC was one of the first of its kind when it opened in 2011, but low student numbers, financial challenges, and poor Ofsted results were said to be behind the decision to shut it down.

Part of the former £9.5 million Black Country UTC, is now being used by members of a “live-in guardians” scheme, which offers cheap accommodation to professionals and students.

Walsall council said the live-in guardians were being used to “secure the building”, while also sharing the site with the council’s outdoor pursuits team.

The council is renting the rest of the site to the Sneyd Community Association. Specialist equipment left behind following the closure was “redistributed by the EFA”, officials said.

Hackney UTC also closed in 2015, and a string of collapses have followed.

In February, an FE Week investigation found that forty per cent of UTCs opened between 2010 and 2013 saw student numbers fall for the last academic year, and seven of the flagship institutions will have shut by the end of this academic year.

Although the government aims to ensure their sites are still used for “educational purposes”, this hasn’t always proved to be the case.

The £8.6 million Burton and South Derbyshire UTC, in Staffordshire, which never managed to open because of recruitment problems, is also empty.

But the de Ferrers Trust, a local academy trust, is hoping to relocate sixth-form provision from its flagship de Ferrers academy into the UTC’s “world-class” facilities.

Steve Allen, chief executive of the de Ferrers trust, said the Burton and South Derbyshire UTC site was the “perfect environment” for a 16 to 19 institution.

“In other UTCs they have relocated the furniture to other schools, but we would like to utilise the building with the furniture, and that’s part of our bid.”

At the £6.49 million Central Bedfordshire UTC, which closed this summer, the engineering block and main building are used by Bedford College.

Meanwhile, buildings on the site of Hackney Community College, which were used by Hackney UTC between 2012 and 2015, continue to be used for education.

Tottenham UTC has requested permission to become the second London Academy of Excellence, while Greenwich council has confirmed plans to spend £13 million converting the Royal Greenwich UTC into a secondary school.

The status of the site that once housed UTC Lancashire in Burnley, which announced its closure in May, is unknown.

Commenting on the use of space dedicated to unsuccessful UTCs, Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, accused the government of having “no strategy for dealing with abandoned sites”, and described the “failure of UTCs to recruit pupils” as a “waste”.

She added: “Rather than experimenting with our children’s future, the government really needs to concentrate on the issues that matter — proper funding, motivated teachers, smaller class sizes.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Where UTCs have closed, we have undertaken a full assessment of the site and aim to ensure that it continues to be used for educational purposes.”

Exclusive: Still no assessment organisations approved for over half apprenticeships

More than half of apprenticeship standards approved for delivery still have no approved assessment organisation, FE Week analysis of latest government data has shown.

Former top skills civil servant Dr Sue Pember, who is now director of policy at adult learning provider membership body Holex, said it was “morally wrong” of the Skills Funding Agency to let learners to begin new apprenticeships without an approved AO for their end point assessments.

She hit out after FE Week found there were only 63 standards with an approved AO to do the end point assessment, out of 147 granted final approval by the government and are therefore available for learners to start on.

Our analysis of figures out today on AOs has now shown there are still 78 standards without one, which amounts to just over 50 per cent of the total approved for delivery (see table below).

The lack of progress is despite assurances last month from apprenticeships minister Robert Halfon, as well Skills Funding Agency boss Peter Lauener, that the government was working hard to speed up the approval process – with the current state of play described as “not ideal” but “manageable”.

After being presented with our analysis, Mark Dawe, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, told FE Week this morning: “Our concern is that there will still be a major shortage when the levy starts.

“The new system also adds significantly extra cost to delivering an apprenticeship and without a good choice of EPA organisations, monopoly or duopoly pricing for EPA will take funding away from providing high quality training for the apprentice.

“More importantly, it is simply wrong for an apprentice to start a programme without knowing how they are going to be assessed.”

Mr Halfon was grilled by MPs on the topic during a sub-committee on education, skills and the economy evidence session on apprenticeships on November 2.

He told MPs: “Even where there isn’t an assessment organisation yet, we’re pretty sure that by the time they’ve finished their apprenticeship, which could be on year, two years, they will have the assessment organisation in place.

“Huge amounts of resources are being put in in terms of working with the providers; a lot of work is going on with the employers to make sure of that.”

Mr Lauener provoked a dismayed reaction the previous day at the AELP winter conference, when he told delegates that having no approved AOs for over 40 per cent of learner starts was not a major problem.

He added: “There are 4,200 starts on standards, and there are 800,000 apprentices, so come on, let’s get this in proportion.”

“We don’t expect any of the apprentices that are in training at the moment to reach their end-point assessment without having an end-point assessor provider rightly in place,” he said.

“That’s what I would regard as a disgrace, if we were to get anywhere near that – we’re not in position, we don’t think we will get to that position as of the changes we’re making.”

Dr Pember was highly critical of government progress with this back in October.

She said: “I think it’s really morally wrong to start an apprentice on a programme when you don’t know how they are going to be tested at the end.

“You wouldn’t start somebody on the equivalent of an A-level without knowing the assessment at the end.”

An SFA spokesperson said: “We are making sure that all end-point assessments meet our rigorous quality standards and we carefully scrutinise every application to ensure this is the case.

“Of those standards with current apprentice starts, 86 per cent have an end-point assessment organisation available to them. This rises to 96 per cent of all apprentice starts who are expected to reach their gateway within the next 12 months.

“We are working towards all standards having end-point assessment organisations by the time the apprenticeship reforms begin in April.”

Mass delays to publication of special needs learner plans spark calls for government intervention

“Very concerning” delays with councils delivering education health and care plans (EHCP) for young people with special needs, which could deprive many of FE support from January, have sparked calls for a government crackdown.

Local authorities are legally obliged to put in place the new plans for young people in FE and training – which are different to previous learning difficulties assessment (LDA) recommendations.

They were given until the end of August to do this for 19 to 25-year-olds.

An extension until December 31 was subsequently provided by the Department for Education – but this was only supposed to apply in “exceptional circumstances”.

Despite this, freedom of information request responses indicate that less than 30 local authorities across the country had transferred all their learners by the August deadline – with 10 failing to transfer a single one by that date.

Sue Pember, director of policy and external relations at local authority community learning services membership body HOLEX, told FE Week: “EHCPs trigger the right level of support and funding.

“They are there as the key tool to help ensure our most vulnerable young people have the right education and training.

“If the local authorities can’t do it, then DFE should step in and sort the issue out.”

She added: “Because there is no fundamental issue with the actual task of doing an EHCP, the only reasons we can see for them not being done is local authorities not prioritising and not having a enough ‎trained staff.

“The‎ reason behind giving this job to them was supposedly they were best placed to do it. They would/ should have known the student from a young age and would have been supporting them through school and therefore reassessment at 16 should have been relatively straightforward.”

Liz Maudslay, policy manager for special education needs at the Association of Colleges, which launched a ‘year of mental health’ in colleges at the organisation’s annual conference last month, said: “It is very concerning that a number of local authorities have not yet transferred students with learning difficulties and disabilities, who have an assessment, onto an education heath and care plan.

“Local authorities must do much more to help get the right support in place as soon as possible.”

Thomas Mitchell, a specialist education law solicitor at Simpson Millar, which lodged the FOIs, added urgent action was needed to stop young people with special needs bearing the brunt in the new year, if their ECHPs have not been completed.

He warned: “If all EHCPs aren’t in place by December 31, these young people could find themselves without the necessary college support or placements.”

The DfE told local authorities over the summer that justification for delaying EHCPs in “exceptional circumstances” should “avoid any disruption to high needs support”.

But it stressed: “These cases should be the exception not the rule, and cases where an EHCP assessment is still underway by September 1 should be particularly exceptional.”

The FOI responses by 136 local authorities indicated that almost as many learners did not have an EHC by the original deadline, as the number who had one – 4,529 compared to 5,336.

LDAs were replaced with EHCPs for all new FE learners with support needs from 2014.

Previous guidance for local authorities, published by the DfE, said: “All young people who receive support as a result of an LDA who will continue in FE or training beyond September 1, 2016, must have an EHCP by that date where one is needed.”

A DfE spokesperson told FE Week today: “We have brought about the biggest changes to special educational needs and disability provision in a generation and are increasing overall high needs funding.

“We allowed some funding flexibility in exceptional circumstances for local authorities in transferring 19 to 25-year-olds who had LDAs last year to ECHPs. This was to safeguard the interests of young people and ensure their high needs provision was not disrupted.”

She added that “19-25 year olds need the plans to be eligible for high needs funding. However, we allowed some funding flexibility to this rule, ‎in exceptional circumstances”.

The Local Government Association declined to comment on the delays.