Reformed apprenticeships have shown little sign of taking off in latest government statistics that indicate the programme could be on target for Prime Minister David Cameron’s 3m target.

Just 700 starts across all ages and all levels were listed for the new standards in the statistical first release, published on Thursday (January 21). There were 400 confirmed for the whole of 2014/15.

The figure, which relates to the first quarter of 2015/16, is a stark contrast to the 153,100 starts on apprenticeship frameworks, which are being phased out for standards. It compares to 147,500 starts for the same period last year.

All the figures are provisional, but it paints a picture in which starts across the framework board were up 4 per cent on the same figures last year.

And to hit the Mr Cameron’s 3m target in the next five years there needs to be an average of 600,000 apprenticeship starts per year, or 150,000 per quarter.

However, the final figures could yet call this success into question. Last year’s final figures showed the first quarter to carry the most new starts at 163,600 — subsequent quarters brought lower figures, resulting in total new starts of 499,900 for the year.

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal said: “Adjustment of the provisional data for 2015/16 may lead later to better figures, but we are concerned that the programme is not growing at a pace we would like and in particular for 19-24 year olds.

He added: “Not all 19+ growth requests during this year have been approved and we are still waiting on the 16-18 responses as well which is a real concern when we are already half way through the year.”

But the provisional figures also showed an increase in the number of new traineeship starts, with 7,600 starts recorded in the first quarter of 2015/16, compared to only 5,000 for the previous year. And the growth could well continue with news, reported by FE Week on January 20, that restrictions limiting who can deliver traineeships were to be lifted next month rather than from August.

Skills Minister Nick Boles said: “Apprenticeships and traineeships are creating the highly skilled and productive workforce that is supporting our country’s economic growth. We are on the right track to delivering 3m apprenticeships by 2020.”

The government has missed the first key deadline from its own timeline for apprenticeship reform implementation over the next five years, following delays to the launch of a consultation on the “public sector target”.

It published a document on December 7, called English Apprenticeships: Our 2020 vision document, setting out a number of imminent dates.

The first was that the government was supposed to consult “on the [apprenticeship] target for the public sector” before the turn of the year.

It explained that “through the Enterprise Bill, we [the government] intend to introduce new statutory targets for public sector bodies to employ their fair share of apprentices to contribute to our goal of achieving 3m apprenticeship starts”.

“The proposal is that the targets will apply to public bodies with 250 or more people working for them in England,” it said in the document.

“In December 2015, we will publish a consultation which will give the rationale behind a minimum target of 2.3 per cent and list the bodies proposed to be in scope.

“Following this and subject to Parliamentary approval, we will put these targets in place in 2016. Public bodies will then be required to report annually on progress.”

However, a Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) spokesperson admitted to FE Week on Thursday (January 21) that the “consultation has not yet been launched”, although he said “this will change in the next few days”.

The Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and BIS were also unable to comment ahead of publication on how the government was progressing with four other developments the 2020 document set for the first month of this year.

It said that a “National Careers Service digital platform will determine the potential suitability of a young person for apprenticeships, traineeships or the JCP work experience programme” from January.

“Data on apprenticeship wage returns by sector subject area” was also set to be published in the same month.

It added that “an integrated communications campaign to promote apprenticeships, traineeships and work experience opportunities” would also be created in January, and “guidance on funding both frameworks and standards for the 2016/2017 academic year” would be issued at the end of the month.

Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden (pictured above) said: “It is the government that has set itself all these targets.

“Therefore, it doesn’t look good when it starts not being able to meet them. It raises questions over whether they have sufficient [staff] resources to do all these things.”

It comes as members of the Apprenticeship Delivery Board (ADB), which it is thought will be tasked helping ensure that the government doesn’t miss any more reform programme deadlines, were unveiled on Monday (January 18), five months after its creation was first announced.

But an SFA spokesperson told FE Week two days later that it was still “in the process of setting up the first meeting of the full ADB”.

Both BIS and the SFA declined to respond to Mr Marsden’s comments.

A Skills Funding Agency (SFA) decision not to introduce a reduced funding rate for online learning has been welcomed by the sector.

The SFA had been looking into online learning following the publication of the Further Education Learning Technology Action Group (Feltag) report in March 2014.

But speaking as a member of the audience during a talk at the Bett education technology show in London on January 20, Stephen Nichols, policy implementation manager at the SFA, said that online learning was not “the cheap option”.

“We’ve taken a lot of feedback on online funding rates,” said Mr Nichols.

“The Skills Funding Agency isn’t going to implement a cheap rate for online learning. I think we all appreciate that it’s not the cheap option,” he added.

Paul Rolfe, director of technology and innovation at Highbury College, Portsmouth, was part of the Feltag group. He said Mr Nichols’ announcement was “very much welcomed”.

He said: “Developing high quality online courses with interactive and engaging resources is incredibly time consuming and therefore expensive.”

The SFA’s acknowledgement of this “will enable innovative providers such as Highbury College to continue to invest in new delivery models which will respond to the changing needs of learners and employers,” he said.

A spokesperson for the Association of Colleges said the SFA was “right” that “developing and delivering high-quality online courses is not cheaper” than face-to-face learning.

“Colleges, and other providers, which choose to provide both types of course should receive funding that is accurate and commensurate with the type of content and means of delivery for specific courses,” she said.

Feltag also recommended that all publicly-funded learning programmes should have a minimum of 10 per cent online content from 2015/16.

In its Feltag progress report in February last year, the government said it had reviewed this recommendation “in the light of concerns raised about setting a target without first testing the impact”.

As a result, it said, the SFA would be undertaking “information gathering” to “baseline current activity”, as well as running a number of pilots and asking the sector to complete a “temperature check” survey.

Another Feltag member, learning technology adviser Bob Harrison, said: “What’s really encouraging, from an FE point of view, is that they are now actively looking to remove the barriers in the funding mechanism, which will allow teachers and FE providers to use technology in an innovative way.”

A spokesperson for the SFA said that the evidence they had seen showed that “there are a wide range of variables involved” in setting an online funding rate.

“Final recommendations on an online funding rate will be made when our online learning report is published in due course,” she said.

FE colleges that recruit learners from the age of 14 will be covered by tough new strike rules, the government has finally confirmed.

Its ballot threshold consultation response, published today, lists teaching and leadership of “pupils aged 5 to 16 in state-funded schools” as “important public services” which would be subject to the new 40 per cent support threshold for strike action, as part of the new trade union bill.

And a spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) confirmed that “any teacher teaching a child under 17 will be covered by the 40 per cent threshold, whether in an FE college or a school”.

Under new rules in the trade union bill, which was introduced by the Business Secretary Sajid Javid (pictured above), a 50 per cent turnout requirement will be set for all strike action, with a separate requirement that strikes in “important” areas such as education and health have the support of 40 per cent of those eligible to vote.

According to the wording of the bill, the 40 per cent support threshold would apply to staff working with provision covering statutory school age pupils, meaning those aged five to 16.

At the moment, strike action can be called if a simple majority is in favour. That means that no matter how many eligible voters cast ballots, any vote share over 50 per cent in favour will count as support.

Greenhead Sixth Form College has come out on top again in this year’s league tables for schools and colleges, according to government figures released on Thursday (January 21).

It boasted the highest average point score among sixth form colleges (SFCs) both per full time vocational student and full time A-level student, in the latest Department for Education (DfE) figures.

Greenhead’s success was emphasised by the fact that the SFC also topped the tables for average point scores in 2013/14.

Principal Anton McGrath said: “We are once again delighted to be at the top of the table for both our academic and vocational work. It is testament to the hard work of the staff and the students.”

Providers were assessed on a range of measures — including average point score per student, where each grade is given a numerical value and an average taken across the cohort.

Among general FE colleges (GFEs) and tertiary colleges, Riverside College gained the highest average point score per vocational student, while Colchester Institute achieved the best score per A-level student.

A spokesperson at Riverside College said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been ranked as the number one FE college in the country for the achievements of our vocational students.”

In contrast, Derwentside College and Doncaster College both found themselves at the bottom of the tables for the second year running.

Derwentside had the lowest average point score per vocational student, while Doncaster was lowest for average point score per A-level student. Both colleges results had dropped lower than their scores last year. The two colleges were also bottom of the tables for value-added score, with Derwentside lowest for vocational and Doncaster for A-levels. Derwentside was lowest for vocational value-added score last year and its score has not changed.

Karen Redhead, principal and chief executive, Derwentside College, said: “Derwentside College is not a typical GFE college as we focus extensively on apprenticeships and getting young people into jobs.

“Frustratingly, of the 270 or so young people who studied with us at Level 3 last year, these league tables only count 24 of them.

“We run qualifications that our employers tell us they really value. Sadly these qualifications do not always count in the league tables which still tend to favour academic programmes.”

Among SFCs, Gateway Sixth Form College and John Ruskin College held the lowest average point scores for vocational students and A-level students, respectively.

Naz Leivas-Mistry, vice principal for quality at Gateway College, said: “Gateway Sixth Form College offers a broad curriculum of vocational and academic qualifications from entry level one to advanced level three for a range of learners. The vocational elements represent a relatively small fraction of the overall offer and when viewed as a whole, the college success rates exceed national rates.”

A spokesperson for John Ruskin College said: “The information about the point score is based on a very small cohort of learners. John Ruskin College is a mainly vocational college with high success rates and excellent value added data.

“We introduced A-levels as a pilot in 2013/14 with a very small cohort of four learners who completed the full A-level in 2014/15 and all passed.”

In terms of value-added scores, Runshaw College came top for vocational students for the second year in a row and Harlow College was highest for A-level students.

Michelle Brabner, deputy principal for vocational courses at Runshaw, said: “These results are a testament to the hard work and dedication of all our staff and students.”

Karen Spencer, principal of Harlow College, said: “Outcomes like this are only achieved by the hard work of our students, the high expectations of our staff, and the support of parents and carers.”

Among the SFCs, the successful stories were Stockton Sixth Form College with the best value added score for vocational learners, and Rochdale Sixth Form College for A-levels.

Julian Appleyard, principal at Rochdale SFC, said: “This is the third year in a row the college has topped the performance tables, we are delighted.”

Stockton SFC principal Joanna Bailey said: “Over recent years we have refined our curriculum and increased the number of vocational courses … so it is particularly gratifying to have achieved such outstanding results.”

At the lower end were The Sixth Form College Farnborough for vocational, and St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College, which saw its second year as the provider with the lowest value-added score for A-levels.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association, said: “Parents and students should look beyond the headlines of today’s performance tables to understand how their local school or college has fared this year.

“These headline results mask the performance of institutions in the non-selective state sector – where the vast majority of young people are actually educated.”

Colchester Institute, Doncaster College, The Sixth Form College Farnborough and St Francis Xavier Sixth Form College were yet to comment. The Association of Colleges declined to comment.

Further education trade unions have met twice in the last week to discuss an ongoing pay row with the Association of Colleges (AoC), FE Week can reveal.

Unions in attendance were Unison, the University and College Union (UCU), The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), the Association of Managers in Education (AMiE), Unite and the GMB.

They met on Friday, January 15, to discuss the AoC’s decision to offer no pay rise for 2015/16 and to consider possible industrial action strategies.

They met again on Monday, January 18, this time with the AoC present, a spokesperson for Unison confirmed.

Unite national officer for education Mike McCartney said: “Unite strongly deplores any proposals for a pay freeze for the year 2015/16.

“Because we have a small membership in FE, we have not balloted our members for industrial action. However, our members will strongly support the other FE unions, if they decide to take industrial action.”

The meetings follow Unison’s announcement that its latest ballot of FE workers in England will close at the end of January. The ballot opened on January 6, asking college workers to vote on industrial action in response to the AoC offering no pay rise for 2015/16.

Unison has already carried out a consultative ballot of members on the pay freeze, the results of which were announced in October, with 95 per cent of those voting rejecting the offer. Unison wrote to individual colleges asking them to make a better local offer, but only 12 providers made improvements and more than half did not reply.

A UCU spokesperson told FE Week that the unions have now agreed to wait until the results of the Unison ballot, before deciding further steps.

Andrew Harden, head of FE at the UCU, said: “Our invitation to sit down with the AoC to discuss the current pay dispute remains open, despite their recent refusal to talk.

“Our colleagues in Unison are being balloted for strike action and we will have more to say about the next steps in the pay campaign after that closes.”

The UCU held strike action in November last year in response to the proposed pay freeze, with 207 colleges affected.

The strike was announced in October after no agreement was reached in talks with the AoC. A prior UCU ballot on the pay freeze had resulted in 74 per cent of the members who voted (4,184) backing industrial action. Meanwhile, ATL previously held a ballot on the issue, but said members were reluctant to pursue industrial action. A spokesperson confirmed the union’s position remains unchanged.

The AoC said there was “no update” at present and the GMB was contacted but gave no response.

The National Union of Teachers has also put out a consultative ballot to 93 sixth-form colleges (SFCs) across England, over the issue of real-terms cuts to funding.

If members vote in favour of strike action, a formal ballot will be held in February over whether to hold a national one-day strike.

David Igoe, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said the call for strike action was “unfortunate and misplaced”.

“It is damaging what is generally a constructive industrial relations climate in our sector, at precisely the time we were making some headway with Government,” he added.

The government could be on track to meet its target of 3m new apprenticeship starts by 2020, according to provisional Skills Funding Agency (SFA) statistics for the first quarter of 2015/16.

To hit the 3m target in the next five years there needs to be an average of 600,000 apprenticeship starts per year, or 150,000 per quarter — and the latest Statistical First Release provisionally shows 153,100 new starts for the first quarter of 2015/16, from August to October.

This is a 4 per cent increase on last year’s provisional figures, with 5,600 more starts. The greatest increase was in intermediate level apprenticeships among the under 19s, with 3,000 more starts recorded.

In contrast, the greatest decrease was in intermediate level apprenticeships for the 19-24 age group, with the number of starts decreasing by 2,300, or 5 per cent, compared to provisional statistics for the first quarter of 2014/15.

However, though the statistics look on track for the government’s 3m target, the final figures could call this success into question. Last year’s final figures showed the first quarter to carry the most new starts at 163,600 – subsequent quarters brought lower figures, resulting in total new starts of 499,900 for the year.

The figures for apprenticeship framework starts are in contrast to those for the new apprenticeship standards, which saw just 700 starts.

Skills Minister Nick Boles said: “Young people today have more doors open to them than ever before. Today’s figures show that savvy young people see apprenticeships as a fast-track to a successful career. Apprenticeships are real jobs that combine studying with hands on experience in the workplace.

“Apprenticeships and traineeships are creating the highly skilled and productive workforce that is supporting our country’s economic growth. We are on the right track to delivering 3m apprenticeships by 2020.”

The provisional figures also showed an increase in the number of new traineeship starts, with 7,600 starts recorded in the first quarter of 2015/16, compared to only 5,000 for the previous year. And the growth could well continue with news, reported yesterday by FE Week, that restrictions limiting who can deliver traineeships were to be lifted next month rather than from August.