City of Wolverhampton College has won the Association of Colleges (AoC) Leading Light Award for its programme tackling local unemployment and skill shortages.
An AoC spokesperson praised the college’s work with small, medium and large employers, including Jaguar Land Rover, BAE Systems and Lego.
She said the programme was geared at ensuring that “students and adults are provided with the right skills for the jobs available”.
“It is aimed at employees, unemployed people and apprentices. It identifies areas of skills shortages such as construction, engineering and healthcare and sets them as key priorities,” the spokesperson added. “All students enrolled onto a substantial course at the college are given the opportunity to undertake work experience, which introduces them to local employers.”
Principal Claire Boliver said: “We are absolutely delighted to win the award because it demonstrates our hard work with employers and the local community to get people back into work.”
The accolade was presented by Baroness Sharp of Guildford, president of the AoC charitable trust, at a ceremony in central London (pictured).
The college was one of 11 winners in the AoC Beacon Awards.
The full list of winning colleges:
AQA Award for the Development of Transferable Skills
Abingdon and Witney College
AoC Award for College Engagement with Employers and AoC Award for Outstanding Leadership of Improvement
City of Wolverhampton College
UCAS Progress Award for Careers Education and Guidance and CoLRiC Award for Effective Integration of Libraries/Learning Resources Centres in Curriculum Delivery
Weston College
City & Guilds Award for Staff Development in FE
Reading College (part of Activate Learning)
Edge Award for Practical Teaching and Practical Learning
Rotherham College of Arts & Technology
Gateway Qualifications Award for Widening Participation in Learning
Barking and Dagenham College
Jisc Award for Efficiency through Effective use of Technology in FE
South Eastern Regional College
Microlink and AoC Charitable Trust Award for Inclusive Learning
Leicester College
OCR Award for Innovation in FE
Exeter College
Pearson Award for the Promotion and Delivery of Successful Apprenticeships
On Monday (February 15) Alice Barnard will take up her new role as chief executive officer of the Edge Foundation, replacing acting chief executive David Harbourne who will return to his policy and research role.
For the former chief executive of The Peter Jones Foundation, the position will be the latest step in a diverse career that has taken her from writing for the Police newspaper at Scotland Yard, to running for a seat in Parliament and setting up her own business.
Barnard has always been driven and quick to adapt to new situations. She puts this partly down to her experiences as a child, when her family moved a number of times because of her father’s work in the army.
Born in Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in London in 1977, Barnard and her parents moved to live in Germany for three years until she was four and a half, when they returned to the UK. Her sister Charlotte was born in Germany and Barnard attended kindergarten there.
She has fond memories of living in army quarters in Weingarten, where there were a number of other children her age. “We were properly part of the army family,” she says.
“It was like a ready built community … It’s really safe and because all the quarters are purpose built, it is like a village – safe, open, fun. I enjoyed it. ”
Alice with her horse Catcher in 2010
When the family moved back to England and settled in Salisbury in Wiltshire, Barnard started her first school, Leaden Hall, which she attended for a year. She remembers Salisbury as “charming”, with narrow, cobbled streets and a beautiful cathedral.
But it wasn’t long before they were on the move again, uprooting to Sheffield as her father went back to his former career as a barrister.
She says adapting to the change wasn’t a struggle at the time. “It was quite transient, which didn’t worry me, it seemed quite normal to move. I was blissfully unaware of having to pack everything up again!”
They moved into the centre of Sheffield, a busy and crowded city compared to her previous home.
But Barnard liked Sheffield, and says it sometimes gets a bad press. “Most people think of Sheffield as being heavily industrial — which obviously it is in how in made its wealth — but it’s actually full of Victorian buildings and big, wide roads with lots of trees on them. It wasn’t a difficult transition,” she says.
She went to a private school, Sheffield High School for Girls, which she says was “heavily motivated by results”. It was here that she discovered a passion for history and settled on politics as her chosen career of the future.
“I had a lovely history teacher called Mrs Hangas who was a bit eccentric; I don’t think she would mind me saying that,” Barnard says.
“I loved her and she completely inspired me and made me believe that anything was possible.
“I’d wanted to be a politician, although I’m sure it’s not a popular choice at that age.”
She enjoyed talking about the current affairs of the 1980s and 90s with her school friends.
“We probably just talked rubbish at the time, but it seemed very real. We had lots of opinions on things – whether they were informed or not I’m not sure!”
Alice riding Catcher
After finishing school Barnard took a year out and worked for gentleman’s outfitters Brocklehursts. She worked in the warehouse of the retail outlet and as a sales assistant at shows around the country, looking after others in the team while they were travelling – despite being the youngest by far.
“I really wanted to work properly. I had had bar jobs and things like that, but I wanted to find out what work really was,” she says.
“It was good for me because it made me independent. Half the time I was completely out of my comfort zone … I realised the importance of team work.”
When her gap year was up, Barnard decided she wanted to go to Cambridge to read history.
She says the prospect of applying was scary after being in the world of work and she set herself a project on ‘Gladstone and the Irish Question’, to help get back into an academic mindset and show the tutors how much she wanted to be there.
“It was nerve-wracking. You know that the competition is going to be really difficult and the other participants are going to really want it,” she says.
But she successfully secured a place at Newnham College, and despite initial worries about keeping up with her peers, she “settled in well”.
The three years flew by for Barnard – thanks in no small part to fitting her passion for horses around all her academic work.
“Everything revolved around horses while I was at Cambridge. I took my horse with me and I would get up at the crack of dawn to muck him out before I went to the library,” she says.
Barnard used the money saved from her gap year to put her horse, Dennis, into stables just outside Cambridge and it was looking after him that also led her to meet her now husband, Matt, when she was 19.
Alice with her latest horse Scarlett O’Hara, when she was just a foal. She is now five years old
A jockey and trainer working with racehorses, she met Matt at a competition.
“I thought he was a bit bossy at first actually,” she says. “He was pretty good at what he did so that’s probably why – he knew what he was doing.”
Despite these distractions, Barnard knuckled down in her third year and passed her final exams. She then went on to work for Mike Gallimore, editor of Sporting life, a racing newspaper.
She was sent straight out to get interviews and for her first one bagged a chat with TV presenter and broadcaster, Clare Balding.
“I remember staring at the phone or about ten minutes before I could summon up the courage to call her,” Barnard says.
Working for Gallimore was another important life experience. “Although he completely dropped me in at the deep end he was a really nice guy,” she says. “In a very short period of time I learned a huge amount from him.”
Gallimore also ran offices in London, and it wasn’t long before Barnard transferred to the capital to work at New Scotland Yard on the police newspaper The Job.
She enjoyed being part of another new environment, where security clearances were required just to get into work in the morning.
“The newspaper was produced every two weeks and I used to have to take it down to the Met Commissioner [Paul Condon] and that was quite a nerve-wracking thing to do. He would ask about all the articles,” she recalls.
The job was also a new challenge in terms of location – Barnard was living in Cambridgeshire at the weekends with Matt, but during the week she stayed with friends of her parents, as the cost of commuting everyday was just too expensive.
Then in 2000 Barnard decided to take a change in direction, starting a five year career in advertising. She worked in sales for a company called SPG and says the sector was “a very competitive, male-dominated environment”.
She didn’t find it intimidating though, and says her success helped her to stay confident. “I didn’t find it difficult, mainly because I was good at it. If I’d struggled with the work, I think I would have found it much more tough.”
She then moved to work for a competitor, The World Trade Group, with a number of her other colleagues who had been “poached”, and eventually they decided to set up their own company – Building on Business.
Still only in her late 20s, Barnard and her colleagues established themselves in a friend’s basement in Dulwich.
“None of us had had any experience of setting up a business before … it was a steep learning curve,” she says.
It taught her the pressures of managing a team. “When we started taking on staff you suddenly saw that weight of responsibility, it’s not just about you and getting through the say and earning your living – it’s suddenly about making a success of something because other people are depending on it as well,” she says.
She was a shareholder of the company and enjoyed the work, but after 18 months began to feel that “there was something missing”.
“Although the cut and thrust of it was quite exciting, I felt there was probably something else out there in life,” she explains.
I am looking forward to the opportunity to be able to work with FE in a broader sense. At Edge I feel I will be able to see the whole landscape, right the way through the whole of the FE sector and how it operates.
This led her to move into a campaigning environment, recalling her childhood dreams of politics. In 2007, a year after getting married, Barnard decided to go for a position that came up at the Countryside Alliance, as a regional director for the east of England.
“The Countryside Alliance I guess is best known for being pro-hunting, shooting and fishing, so it’s quite a contentious organisation in the sense that public opinion is often not with them. But obviously I’d been involved with horses and hunting all my life,” she says.
Her role focused on media, PR, fundraising, campaigning and lobbying for the east of England and included issues such as setting up rural broadband and campaigning against the closures of rural post offices and building on flood plains. She lobbied local MPs and local authorities and found her previous experience of journalism gave a helpful context.
“It was about everything rural and working on behalf of rural communities,” she says.
Barnard worked for the Countryside Alliance for five years, becoming chief executive when she was just 34, in 2010.
“I was dazed when I got it. The Countryside Alliance has this image of being 60-something, male, white, middle-class, and they’d never had CEO in their 30s before – let alone a woman.”
In the same year she had gone onto the Conservative Party list and stood as candidate. She got shortlisted for Stratford-on-Avon, but was beaten by Nadhim Zahawi, who is now the Prime Minister’s Apprenticeships Adviser.
“It was an amazing and brutal process and I learned a huge amount. It was that process that inspired me to go for the top job at the Countryside Alliance. Everything I was doing I hadn’t done before, it pushed me to the edge of my capabilities and I enjoyed that in some strange way.”
Alice’s dogs Herbert (left) and Finlay, who are brothers, taken in 2014
Then in 2012, a new opportunity presented itself for Barnard. She was approached by a head hunter who invited her to apply for the role of CEO at the Peter Jones Foundation.
The Foundation was founded in 2005 by the Dragons’ Den entrepreneur and focuses on supporting educational activities and initiatives which champion entrepreneurship.
“I was instantly attracted to the position,” she says. “I was quite excited about the opportunity to move out of rural campaigning, because I didn’t want that to be my only area of expertise. I wanted to have a broad CV and I wanted to be relevant to more people.”
Barnard says she loved the work from the very beginning and thoroughly enjoyed learning about what made the industry tick.
“I really enjoyed the opportunities to talk to so many people – principals, policy makers and the students themselves,” she says.
She has recently been keeping up with changes in education because her daughter, Isobel, is coming up to taking her GCSEs, and will be one of the first cohort to take the new exams with the 1-9 grading system.
Barnard says it is important to acknowledge that women can have vibrant careers alongside family life, even though it may be challenging at time. “I think women have a tough time trying to juggle everything and getting a balance is never easy,” she adds.
Turning to her new role, Barnard says: “I hope my new appointment at the Edge Foundation proves that I really am very passionate about this area. I think this sector is hugely important and it is one that I really see myself working in, working for, for the long haul.”
She had done partnership work with the Edge Foundation whilst heading up the Peter Jones Foundation, and is now “absolutely delighted” to be joining them.
In terms of plans for starting her new position, she says: “We will be working on the ebacc … we think that young people should have the opportunity to study technical and professional qualifications alongside.
“I am looking forward to the opportunity to be able to work with FE in a broader sense. At Edge I feel I will be able to see the whole landscape, right the way through the whole of the FE sector and how it operates.”
Barnard recognises that “FE had taken quite a hit over the last few years financially”.
“It’s about rebuilding and finding a way forward, so that the industry does not lose its confidence,” she says.
It’s a personal thing
What’s your favourite book?
Late Fragments by Kate Gross. It’s an amazing book, she was an amazing women. She very sadly died of cancer, but if someone is looking for someone inspirational, she was incredible.
What do you do to switch off from work?
Spending time with my horses, my dogs and my family.
What’s your pet hate?
Lateness. I hate being late myself, even if it is out of my control, but I’m not keen on other people being late either!
If you could invite anyone to a dinner party, living or dead, who would it be?
I’ve decided on a man and a woman for good gender balance – so it would be Sylvia Plath and Albert Einstein, I think that would be interesting.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
A politician.
Curriculum Vitae
1977: Born in Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in London
1978: Moved to Rheindahlen Germany and attended kindergarten
1981: Returned to the UK and moved to Salisbury, attended Leaden Hall independent day and boarding school for girls
1982: Moved to Sheffield and attended Sheffield High School for Girls until age 18
1995: Finished school and took a year out working for Brocklehursts gentleman’s outfitters, also working with horses in spare time
1996: Went to Cambridge to study history
1996: Met her husband Matt while working with horses in spare time
1999: Started work as a journalist for former editor of the Sporting Life, then at New Scotland Yard working on the Police newspaper, The Job
2000: Started work in advertising with SPG and later The World Trade Group
2001: Daughter Isobel was born
2005: Set up her own company with colleagues – Building on Business
2006: Got married
2007: Appointed regional director for the east of England at the Countryside Alliance
2010: Shortlisted for two safe Conservative seats, appointed chief executive officer of the Countryside Alliance
2012: Became chief executive of the Peter Jones Foundation
2016: Became chief executive of the Edge Foundation
Lowestoft Sixth Form College (SFC) has been issued with a financial notice to improve from the Education Funding Agency (EFA).
Principal Yolanda Botham was formally told about this before Christmas in a letter from David Jeffrey, territorial director South for the EFA, which was published on the Department for Education website today (February 11).
The accompanying notice to improve ordered the SFC to draw up a financial recovery plan, which it has done, explaining how its plans to merge with Great Yarmouth College and Lowestoft College will help “deliver long term [financial] viability”.
It added Ms Botham and other senior staff would have to attend quarterly meetings with the EFA “to discuss the progress and pace of your financial recovery”.
“The college will continue to undertake a regular review of potential cash flow requirements to inform short-term borrowing needs, and provide the EFA with an update on the position of borrowings as well as direct confirmations of its bankers’ continuing support,” it added.
Ms Botham told FE Week today: “We are a ‘good’ college with growing student numbers and financial reserves, so there is no immediate financial problem.
“This is about forward planning — so looking at the merger consultation we launched last month and how that will affect the college.”
The SFC had around 550 learners when it was rated good-across-the-board by Ofsted last June, but now has close to 700, Ms Botham added.
It comes after FE Week reported on February 5 that the SFC, which was allocated around £2.6m by the EFA for 2015/16 as of October last year, was one of five FE and sixth form colleges involved in a pilot review of post-16 provision in Norfolk and Suffolk last year that now face being revisited in November as part of a wider area review.
Great Yarmouth College, Lowestoft College, and Lowestoft SFC said they made the decision to launch “partnership” plans “designed to combine their strengths but still protect the individual identity of each college”, as a result of the pilot that took place over the first five months of last year.
East Norfolk and Paston SFCs also announced plans to merge and work towards becoming part of a multi-academy trust.
Apprenticeship quality concerns will come under the spotlight in a new parliamentary inquiry that will check out the merits of government reforms as it drives to increase take-up.
The Education, Skills and Economy (ESE) Sub-Committee’s probe will look at a variety of apprenticeship-related issues, including quality, progression onto higher levels and levy plans.
It will also investigate progress with government reforms as the sector drives to increase take-up by younger learners and achieve 3m starts by 2020.
The deadline for written submissions to the inquiry, announced this morning, is March 18.
Iain Wright (pictured above left), co-chair of the ESE Sub-Committee and chair of the BIS Committee, said today: “There’s been a lot of uncertainty about how the apprenticeship system is going to work and we will want to press the Government [through the new inquiry] on how they are going to ensure businesses, colleges, and students have confidence in the system in the future.”
Neil Carmichael, (picured above right) fellow ESE Sub Committee co-chair and chair of the Education Select Committee, added: “In this inquiry we will examine a variety of issues relating to apprenticeships, not least how do we boost the take-up of apprenticeships among 16–19 year olds and what is being done to ensure young people are aware of the opportunities available?”
The ESE inquiry comes amid growing concern over delays with implementation of apprenticeship reform targets, as set out by the Government in its English Apprenticeships: Our 2020 vision document last December.
An improved Find an Apprentice website was also due to have gone live in January, according to the government’s own timetable, but a Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesperson told FE Week at the start of this month that it had only been a “draft placeholder date”.
“Following work to scope and plan the project, the date for delivering the provider journey is now planned for March,” she added.
It had announced back in 2013 that all new apprenticeship starts from 2018/19 would be on Trailblazer standards — but the 2020 Vision report said the government would now “stagger the withdrawal of public funding” for the old frameworks following that date.
An Ofsted report published in October, following its own inquiry into apprenticeships, was also critical of the standard of apprenticeships, including coffee-making and floor cleaning.
In an exclusive interview with FE Week at the time of the report’s launch, Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw called on the government to “focus not just on quantity, but on quality”.
The report, due in the spring, will assess whether the programme is “facilitating the delivery of high quality skills training”.
The issue of quality arose again during an evidence session for the Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee on Wednesday.
Business Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs the planned new levy, due to be introduced from April 2017 for large companies, along with legislation to legally protect the term ‘apprenticeship’ and the proposed new Institute for Apprenticeships, would all help drive up standards.
Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden tabled a parliamentary question, as yet unanswered, asking for an update about this on Thursday (February 4) — as the fund has still not materialised.
Michael Davis, chief executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), has been appointed managing director of consultancy firm Ecorys UK, it was announced today.
He will take up the role with the company, which specialises in economic and public policy, on March 1, after a little over five years at the UKCES helm.
Mr Davis’s successor has yet to be “formally confirmed”, a spokesperson said, although FE Week understands that Ian Kinder, UKCES’s deputy director, will take the lead in the interim.
In a statement, Manon Janssen, chief executive of Ecorys, said: “On behalf of the entire organisation I welcome Michael to Ecorys. His management expertise, leadership qualities and client focus will be great assets in leading Ecorys UK to the next phase of profitable growth and expansion, serving clients in the public sector as well as the semi-private sector.”
Business Secretary Sajid Javid has said he would welcome “more scrutiny” on skills, as he suggested that the Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) select committee carry out an inquiry focusing on the area.
During a committee evidence session in parliament this morning, Mr Javid was asked by committee chair, Iain Wright, what the committee should focus on in “in order to boost productivity”.
“Skills – whether it’s FE or HE – that’s certainly an important part to dealing with the productivity challenge,” Mr Javid said.
“That’s certainly one area where I’d welcome more scrutiny,” he said.
Speaking to FE Week following the evidence session Mr Wright said he was “very interested” in Mr Javid’s comments.
“We looked at this as part of our inquiry into the Government’s productivity plan, and the BIS Committee has joined with the Education Select Committee to set up a permanent sub-committee on Employment, Skills and the Economy, to ensure we have true scrutiny and join-up of education and business policy when it comes to skills,” he said.
“However, we will certainly consider the Secretary of State’s comments further and ensure that skills and scrutiny of the Government’s policies are a key objective of the committee,” Mr Wright added.
Earlier in the evidence session, which focused on the spending review and the work of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, Mr Javid said that a “significant portion” of the apprenticeship levy would go to small firms.
“What that portion will be I couldn’t tell you,” he said, adding that he would have a better idea “by the summer”.
In response to questions from MP Peter Kyle on the high proportion of people doing an apprenticeship who already have a qualification at the same level or above, Mr Javid said the apprenticeship levy would “concentrate the minds” of employers.
“Where you will now have a situation where a huge number of companies will be paying the whole cost of the apprenticeship, I think it will absolutely concentrate the minds of those companies, and make them think again about the value of the training that they provide to the individual,” he said.
One college principal expects the number of colleges in England to drop by a third over the next two years, FE Week can reveal.
Stuart Cutforth, principal and chief executive of Chesterfield College, raised the issue in a speech at the 2016 emfec conference in Nottingham today (February 7), saying that he expected college numbers to drop to 200.
Mr Cutforth spoke about his experiences of leading Chesterfield College through the first wave of the government’s post-16 education and training area based reviews, at emfec’s ‘Innovation in FE – Embracing Devolution’ conference.
He said his college’s review had started in September 10 and should have finished last week, but is not yet complete.
He described a process of “speed dating” over three and a half months, during which the nine colleges in Sheffield City region – all of which are rating ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted – were encouraged to look at working collaboratively together.
Stuart Cutforth, principal and chief executive, Chesterfield College
“It feels like Apocalypse Now,” he said of the process.
“These are unprecedented times for FE, makes no bones about this, this is real, this is going to happen and we need to embrace it. Whether we like it or not, area based reviews are here to stay.
“We have got radical restructuring brought upon us by political intervention … This is the biggest change for 22 years, it is serious,” he said.
Mr Cutforth observed that since 1993 the FE sector has “lost a third of our colleges”, and said he predicted the number of colleges in England would drop down to 200, possibly by 2017.
“If you sit and wait for the FE commissioner to sort this out, you will lose. Get on with it and find some solutions for yourself,” he advised the emfec conference audience.
He added that merger did not have to be the only option. “I know colleges fear that word. I’ve merged a college, I’ve stopped a college from being merged – I know the difference.
“The merger of my college in City College Birmingham with South Birmingham saved about £200,000 – that’s it, that’s all. That won’t work on its own,” he said.
Nick Linford, FE Week interim editor and chair of the event, then pressed the other FE experts taking part in the morning’s ‘Creating Innovation in the Skills and Education Sector’ panel discussion (pictured above), to give their views on the future for college numbers.
The panel all said that the number of colleges was likely to fall as a result of changes brought about by the area review process. Andy Wilson, Principal of Westminster Kingsway College and chief executive designate of City and Islington and Westminster Kingsway Colleges, agreed with Mr Cutforth that the number of colleges could drop by a third to 200.
Melanie Ulyatt, regional chairperson for the Federation of Small Businesses predicted 243 colleges over the next two years, while Mark White chair of the Association of Colleges Governors’ Council, expected 253 and Jo Lappin, chief executive of Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership, guessed 260.
Ms Ulyatt said: “I hope to think that it would be the colleges decisions, making those pathways to either merge or stay as they are,” and Mr White commented: “This rushed, under-resourced process has, nevertheless, opened up conversations between colleagues in a way like never before.”
Ms Lappin said there was a need to recognise the needs of each individual area. “This process needs to be transformational – how does it drive up achievement and performance, rather than just saying we’ve got to go through a process that makes some savings?” she said.
Other speakers at the event included Shakira Martin, vice president for FE at the National Union of Students, who spoke on the importance of listening to learner voice, and Nic Dakin MP, shadow schools minister, who discussed the potential impact of devolution on the FE sector.
The government is looking for alternative “quality providers” for up to 3,500 post-16 learners after it pulled the plug on funding the FE training wing of leading charity Age UK.
The decision by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and Education Funding Agency (EFA) was provoked by Ofsted’s inadequate-overall rating of Age UK in a report published a month ago.
This returned the lowest (grade four) ratings for apprenticeships, and traineeships, effectiveness of leadership and management, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, outcomes for learners, and adult learning programmes.
It led to a government spokesman telling FE Week today that “the SFA and EFA have terminated their contracts with Age UK Trading’s training division following its [inadequate Ofsted] rating”.
“We are now working to ensure apprentices and learners find alternative quality providers with minimal disruption,” it added.
“This government is committed to spreading educational excellence everywhere, and any time spent in an underperforming institution is unacceptable.”
Last month’s Ofsted report stated that Age UK’s learning wing taught around 7,600 post-16 learners over the previous contract year.
Around 3,500 were enrolled at the time of publication, of which 2,300 were apprentices and 100 on traineeships.
A spokesperson for Age UK, which was allocated more than £8m EFA and SFA funding for the current academic year, said: “We have made the difficult decision to consult on closing Age UK’s government-funded training business.
“We will now be reviewing operations and are liaising with all staff to support them during this time. We have not made any final decisions.”
The closure could reportedly lead to more than 100 job losses.
A report on the Daily Mirror website stated that financial problems faced by the charity’s training wing had also been caused by the loss of European Social Fund (ESF) cash.
The charity and European Union (EU) declined to say how much ESF money was involved.
However, an EU spokesperson told FE Week: “The ESF programmes are managed by the national management authority — in the case of the UK, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
“For more information on why ESF funding was cancelled, I would therefore refer you to them.”
She added: “We do not see a link between this decision and the so-called ‘funding gap’”.
The ‘funding gap’ that she referred to was the lag between closing dates for 2007 to 2013 ESF contracts and procurement for new funding agreements — which forced a number of training bases to close as reported by FE Week.
The SFA confirmed in June last year that while old contracts would close on July 31, it anticipated that “the earliest” procurement rounds for 2014 to 2020 would “launch in July”.
The process was infact not launched by the SFA until December last year, as reported by FE Week, with tendering for further ESF contracts expected to open “at regular intervals between January and May 2016,” according to a spokesperson for the agency.
The DWP declined to comment in July last year on whether there would be a funding gap for its ESF contracts and was unable to comment on funding for Age UK ahead of publication.
After giving a speech to a packed room at the University and College Union (UCU) conference ‘Education from Cradle to Grave’ (February 6), Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn took time out of his busy schedule to tell FE Week his views on some of the sector’s most pressing issues.
Mr Corbyn on FE Week’s Edition 163 front page story…
FE funding should not just be reliant on a hypothecated amount coming from an indeterminate amount of money from LIBOR [fines]. It should be a commitment from central government to properly fund it.
I’m generally speaking fairly sceptical about this process, because if you hypothecate a tax from one funding source or the other, you don’t know the extent of the funding that’s coming in, therefore you cannot be certain of what is going to go out.
I’d rather we said we’re going to guarantee that funding and obviously collect the LIBOR fines and pay them into the public purse where they should be paid. So Gordon Marsden will be chasing this up – he has indefatigable skills at following things through.
On the current state of the FE sector…
Jeremy Corbyn delivers his conference speech on the social and economic importance of further and higher education to the UK
I think the FE sector is going through a period of enormous change and turmoil. In Scotland there have been huge cuts in the number of colleges as a whole and a loss of a very large number of college places. The same process looks like it is happening in England, where there have been big mergers either planned, proposed or encouraged by government, and consequently a much more streamlined approach to courses – so the diversity of courses has narrowed.
Many are making very tough calculations about the numbers of students required to keep a course going, which loses out then on unusual skills areas. So you keep on hearing about small size but nevertheless important skills courses, high skill working courses, high skill electrician courses something, certainly things like jewellery making, all those courses that sometimes struggle to get large numbers but nevertheless are important for future economic benefit.
If somebody goes to college, develops a skills in a certain area, goes out and then founds a business to develop that skill or to promote that particular product – they’re going to pay taxes, they’re going to employ people, they’re going to be a growth in the economy. I rest my case!
I want every person who goes into an apprenticeship to be absolutely sure they’re going to come out of it with a qualification that is universally recognised and universally appreciated
On the government’s target for 3m apprenticeships by 2020…
I am concerned about the quality of certain apprenticeships. On my travels around the country, and I spend three days a week campaigning and travelling around the place, and I look at the quality of them and they vary enormously.
I went to the Engineering Employers federation Centre in Perry Barr, absolutely superb, absolutely brilliant, top-notch stuff. I was in Middlesbrough STEM college, STEM centre of the college there – fantastic, the work that they’re doing. You look at the quality of apprenticeships of Jaguar LandRover, look at the quality of apprenticeships at Rolls Royce, Airbus, really good, really high quality stuff.
You look at others, where you think well, hang on, what is the training here? What is the qualification that comes out of this? I want every person who goes into an apprenticeship to be absolutely sure they’re going to come out of it with a qualification that is universally recognised and universally appreciated. and I think we’ve just got to make sure that happens.
Jeremy Corbyn and Sally Hunt, director general of the UCU, meet conference delegates to hear their views
I also want the colleges who are doing apprenticeships to also deliver the wider education experience, so it’s not just totally vocationally skill-related. It should be related to a wider understanding of society. We want a better educated society where we value learning for learning’s sake.
University students by-and-large do get that wider experience, I don’t see why those that are doing vocational qualifications, who are going to be doing equally important jobs in the future, shouldn’t get that. An electrician is as valuable as anyone who has got a degree in anything else – they are all part of our society and we, too often in Britain, have not sufficiently valued vocational skills or science and engineering in our society. I come from a family of engineers, but I fell by the wayside and ended up with this job!
FE Week reporter Alix Robertson sneaks a selfie with Jeremy
The idea behind it is good, being that there is some fundamental centre monitoring it, checking on the qualifications – that’s good. We need some details on it. We need to know who is going to be involved and we need it to be not just one section it needs to involve unions, employers, society as a whole – they’ve all got a contribution to make.
If you’re doing good quality apprenticeships and FE, then in any city you’d involve the employers in that area. I have had discussions with the CBI [Confederation of British Industry] about this on the apprenticeships levy and the amounts being charged, and I will be having further meetings with the CBI and the TUC [Trades Union Congress] on this.
Main picture: Sally Hunt introducing Jeremy Corbyn. Credit: www.twitter.com/ucu
FE funding should not just be reliant on a hypothecated amount coming from an indeterminate amount of money from LIBOR [fines]. It should be a commitment from central government to properly fund it.
