Skills Funding Agency (SFA) director Keith Smith (pictured) has moved to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) to take a lead role in levy implementation.

Mr Smith will be on secondment to BIS for the next year, from his SFA post overseeing funding and programmes, while working as director of levy implementation until it goes live next April.

When asked about this, a spokesperson for the department said: “I can confirm Keith Smith is joining BIS to specifically work on the implementation of the apprenticeships levy.

“He will be working closely with the director of apprenticeships.”

Peter Lauener, chief executive of the SFA and Education Funding Agency, said: “There is no one with more experience, knowledge and understanding of the apprenticeship system then Keith, so I am delighted he is going to BIS to lead the delivery of the levy programme, which is so important to the future of skills in this country.

“I look forward to welcoming him back to SFA when he has completed that vital assignment.”

George Osborne first announced the levy plans in his budget speech last July. The Government then confirmed in November that about £3bn a year would be raised from April 2017, by asking large employers to pay 0.5 per cent of their payroll costs towards the levy.

But this will be offset by a £15,000 allowance, so will not apply to smaller companies.

Mr Smith will have a huge task on his hands implementing the levy in just over 12 months, with question marks remaining on several issues, including how firms not required to pay it will receive apprenticeship funding, and how it will effect existing levies such as the one charged by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB).

The move comes after Mr Smith warned college leaders, at the Association of Colleges’ annual conference last November in Birmingham, they would face a huge challenge when the levy allowed subcontractors to receive funding directly from the Government.

He said the changes could have a serious impact on college funding, as “colleges are spending at the moment just under 20p in the pound on apprenticeships”.

“However, in the adult world … over 40 per cent of that you are subcontracting out,” he added. “So if you convert that into how much money is going directly to you, in the worst cases it is an average of less than 10p in the pound.”

He warned they might be benefiting at present “from subcontracting bringing money in, but from April 2017 those subcontractors will take that capacity and they will get funded directly through the apprenticeship voucher system”.

 

Colleges will have access to cash to pay for consultants to help them implement area review recommendations, FE Week can exclusively reveal.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) told FE Week that grants of between £50,000 and £100,000 would be available to cover “the people that may be needed for that kind of structural change”, such as “people who can help with estates or finance”.

The news comes after Skills Minister Nick Boles told delegates at the Education and Training Foundation Leadership Summit on Wednesday that grants would be available to help colleges “pay for the professional capacity that they need if they are undergoing a merger or setting up a new group structure or something like that”.

More details about the grant fund, which is separate from the previously announced restructuring facility, will be available “shortly”, the BIS spokesperson said.

FE Week revealed in February that the government was setting aside more than £500m to help colleges put in place any area review recommendations.

This was confirmed by the government on March 1, when it published its updated area review guidance that included details of the restructuring facility.

Speaking about the facility to delegates at the ETF event (pictured), the Skills Minister said: “In terms of the broader restructuring costs, the restructuring fund is a loan fund, but it is a long-term loan fund”.

“It is not necessarily on the same terms as the loans that you have been used to in the past.

We are able – and the Treasury has accepted that we are able – to look at longer term loans where that can be justified, and where there is a good prospect of them ultimately being paid back,” Mr Boles said.

As previously reported in FE Week, the guidance states that the “default position” of the facility, which is being held by the Treasury, is that “it will be provided as a loan on commercial terms” and it will “cover only a proportion of the total costs”.

Colleges will be expected to seek alternative sources of funds for implementing any changes but “in cases where the required funding cannot otherwise be secured there is a restructuring facility available,” the guidance says.

In exceptional cases “where repayable funding alone will not achieve the best value for money”, the guidance states, cash may be available as a non-repayable grant.

 

The issue of FE’s future in London is hotting up before the mayoral election in May.

One of the top jobs in the new Mayor’s in-tray will be leading the capital’s post-16 education area review and the current Mayor, Boris Johnson, has already taken a leading role in the preparations.

In an open letter to the next Mayor on March 4, Jennette Arnold, assembly member and chair of the education panel, called on the successful candidate to “seize the moment to re-shape the FE sector”.

She wrote: “You can play a key role in ensuring that London’s FE colleges deliver high quality education that prepares Londoners and businesses for the future.

“You will be aware that a national programme of area reviews has been established to shape that change. At the London level, you have a key role in overseeing the work of four sub-regional boards.

“With many external partners to rally together, your first task will be to ensure there is an agreed vision for what the FE sector in London should look like.”

The letter concluded: “The sector needs a champion and you are ideally placed to take on that role.”

…first task will be to ensure there is an agreed vision

On January 6, it was announced that 17 general FE colleges and six sixth form colleges (SFCs) will be included in the first two sub-regional area reviews of post-16 education and training in London.

The two reviews, in London (central) and London (west), are the first of four London reviews to be announced and are expected to soon begin as part of the second wave of area reviews.

Steering groups for both the reviews will include representatives from the London Enterprise Panel, Greater London Authority and London councils, and will be chaired by a leader from one of the boroughs in the scope of the review.

Ten general FE colleges and four SFCs, covering 12 London boroughs, will come under scrutiny in the London (central) review, while the London (west) review will see seven general FE colleges and two SFCs examined across seven London boroughs.

The two remaining London reviews, in east and south-west London, will be part of a third wave of area reviews, due to begin in April.

Both Labour candidate Sadiq Khan and Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith have shared their views on the role of the next London mayor in the future of FE in the capital.

Sadiq Kahn told FE Week that FE has been treated as “second class” for too long, and he intends to campaign for the Mayor of London to have more power over FE.

Sharing his brother’s experiences as a mechanic’s apprentice and his own as a college governor he said it was vital that the sector is appreciated, adding that he would use the area review process to ensure that FE provision meets the needs of London’s economy.

If he is successful, Zac Goldsmith plans to focus the adult skills budget on closing the London skills gap in sectors such as engineering and construction and the digital economy.

His attention is on life-long skills and he wants to see direct access for younger and disadvantaged Londoners to the creative industries.

The Association of Colleges also penned its own manifesto for London, launched last Friday. It called on the next mayor to support the autonomy of colleges; ensure London gets its fair share of the apprenticeships levy; and lobby for funding of English for Speakers of Other Languages (Esol) — among other demands.

Ian Ashman, chair of AoC London Region and principal of Hackney Community College, said: “The Mayor should not lose sight of the valuable work of colleges in improving the quality of life for many thousands of people in our city every year, aiding social integration and helping communities.”

Click on the image for a larger version

Sadiq Khan – Labour candidate

Sadiq Khan, Labour candidate for Mayor of London, told FE Week:

“FE is a vital route into employment for many Londoners, and a route back into employment for many more. For too long under the Tories, FE has been treated as second class and I want to change that.

“I grew up in Tooting and was lucky enough to go to university but I also know that there are other, equally viable, routes into employment via apprenticeships and FE.

“My brother got where he is by starting off as a mechanic’s apprentice and it is vital that young Londoners who don’t want to go down a straight academic route get the same opportunities he did. I used to be a college governor and appreciate just how vital the sector is.

“That’s why I will campaign for the Mayor of London to have more power over FE in London. Not just so I can make sure everyone gets the opportunity to gain the skills they require for a good job, but so we can take a strategic approach across London to make sure we are training people in the skills businesses actually need.

“I will use the local area review process to ensure FE provision meets the needs of London’s economy and is of the high quality that Londoners deserve.

“I will be a Mayor for all Londoners, and that includes being a champion for the FE sector so that it can work both for Londoners and business.”

Zac Goldsmith – Conservative candidate

Zac Goldsmith, Conservative candidate for Mayor of London, told FE Week:

“We are at a critical time for ensuring London’s FE colleges are delivering a great education for Londoners.

“The area reviews present an opportunity to examine the sector to ensure that it is delivering for students, and delivering for London. As Mayor, I will grasp this opportunity.

“I will ensure that there is closer mapping between the skills that businesses in London need, and the provision offered by FE colleges, so that we can fill skills gaps across London.

He added: “When skills funding is devolved to the Mayor in 2019, I will be able to take real action to make sure funding is channelled where we need it.”

“The Mayor has a strategic role to play ensuring that our FE provision is as successful as it can be — giving Londoners the right skills to find fulfilling employment, and supporting businesses.

“It is because I think FE colleges are so vital to London’s success that I want to take a hands on role in the area reviews.

“I will of course chair the London Area Review Steering Group, but I want to go further than that.

“From 2019 the Mayor will gain control of the adult skills budget. I will ensure funding is channelled into the skills London urgently needs to thrive — closing the London Skills Gap in engineering, construction, sciences, creative media and arts, financial services and the digital economy.”

“London needs a wider and more thoughtful approach to the creation of life-long skills.”

 

 

 

The government has sought to re-assure small and medium-sized employers (SMEs) there will be enough apprenticeship levy money left over for them.

Skills Minister Nick Boles has re-emphasised plans to make SMEs rely on unspent apprenticeship levy funds from larger companies to pay for their training.

Mr Boles told the House of Commons this afternoon that the £2.5bn raised by the levy for training in England would be expected to stretch to cover all employers with apprentices, regardless of their size.

The apprenticeship levy will only be paid by employers with a payroll of more than £3m, which has led to questions over whether smaller companies which aren’t contributing to the levy pot will continue to receive the funding they currently get from government.

But Mr Boles told Parliament today that he expected SMEs to “carry on spending money on apprenticeships, receiving government money for apprenticeships” in the same way that they do now, funded by levy proceeds not used by larger organisations.

He added: “We do not anticipate that all companies who pay levy will use up all of their money in their digital accounts and there will be a great deal more money to go around so we are absolutely determined that the level of apprenticeships provided by small and medium sized enterprises will continue as now.”

Mr Boles said he hoped the £500m earmarked for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from the levy’s £3bn estimated take in 2019/20 would be spend on apprenticeships in the devolved nations, but conceded it was up to their governments to decide how it would be spent.

Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden warned that the FE sector was concerned over a continuing lack of clarity about the future of the levy, which was announced last year.

He said Mr Boles’s statement was “simply a dance of the seven veils, simply a re-hash of what was already said in the English apprenticeships document” and warned that “fine words butter no parsnips”.

He said: “What they all want to know is will this levy be extra money, or will it be a substitute for government funding?”

Mr Boles said more “technical details” would be published following the publication of the Chancellor’s budget next week.

Mr Boles’s comments come as the FE sector prepares to attend the FE Week annual apprenticeship conference, taking place in Birmingham next week.

A struggling University Technical College (UTC) which has already been rescued by a neighbouring FE college is to close this summer, bosses have revealed.

Leaders at Central Bedfordshire UTC have admitted they had not been able to attract “sufficient pupils” to the 14 to 19 vocational institution to provide a “financially viable experience” after this year, and announced plans to close in August, four years after it opened its doors for the first time.

It will be the third of the new institutions, the brainchild of former education secretary Lord Baker, to close within a few years of opening.

Black Country and Hackney UTCs shut last summer following problems with recruitment and viability.

It comes after Skills Minister Nick Boles admitted he wanted to see UTCs function as part of multi-academy trusts to make them “stronger, and despite efforts by Bedford College to rescue the UTC after it was asked by former Education Secretary Michael Gove in 2014 to step in following its inadequate Ofsted grading.

An investigation by FE Week in February revealed Central Bedfordshire UTC was operating at just 16.8 per cent of its capacity, with just 101 learners on roll and 600 spaces available.

Mark Kiteley, the chair of the UTC’s governing board, said the 14 to 19 age range of the college did not “fit comfortably” within Bedfordshire’s three-tier school system, but added that poor transport links to the UTC’s site in Houghton Regis were also a contributing factor to its demise.

He said the board had been “exceptionally well-supported by its sponsor Bedford College”, adding “The latest school performance tables show that in less than 40 teaching weeks the College helped ensure the UTC achieved the 11th best vocational value-added of any school in the country.”

Bedford College chief executive Ian Pryce said: “When a school is doing so well in so many ways it is sad to see it close. In conjunction with a great staff team the UTC has again delivered some of the best advanced engineering results in the country, and produced exceptional maths and English results in a very short time.”