Funding is still the biggest source of worry, the latest FE Week and Policy Consortium survey of over 730 sector leaders has found.

It topped the list of concerns once again in the third annual FE Week sector survey — which was carried out by FE and skills experts from the Policy Consortium.

The latest results did, however, indicate that respondents might be feeling slightly more optimistic about finances than they were a year ago.

Compared with 2015 — when 72.8 per cent of survey respondents said they were “extremely concerned” about levels of institutional funding — just under two thirds (65.3 per cent) gave the same response this year, a fall of 7.5 per cent.

Those who classed themselves as “moderately concerned” about institutional funding, meanwhile, rose from 17.9 per cent to a quarter — showing that fears do remain, but have eased slightly over the year.

This change could have been influenced by Chancellor George Osborne’s decision not to deliver cuts in his autumn statement, in which protection of funding for the “core adult skills participation budgets in cash terms, at £1.5bn” was confirmed.

But analysis by Policy Consortium member and FE journalist Ian Nash (see his exclusive expert piece for FE Week), and comments left by participants, indicated that the issue is still causing sleepless nights.

One respondent wrote: “I have seen the word ‘good’ used to describe the funding settlement for FE in the November spending review.

“I don’t think the flatlining of funding through to 2020, which is very definitely a real-terms cut and comes on the back of 27 per cent real-terms cuts 2010-2015, can be described as ‘good’.”

Another felt more reassured: “I am much less anxious about finance and funding than 12 months ago. The multi-year funding framework put in place last November is very welcome, as is the higher funding rate for land-based colleges.”

The drop in respondents feeling “extremely concerned” from 2015 to 2016 was also reflected in the answers given on learner funding, as well as on the pace and volume of change.

A lack of clarity around change was the focus for some comments.

One participant said: “I suppose the changes at the moment make us all feel that we are treading water, with regards to the new curriculum delivery, and until it is embedded it will be a challenge to know how to plan for our own delivery.”

Another added: “Still a lot of unanswered questions with new funding structure and it is starting soon.”

The theme of uncertainty in responses from the survey echoed what FE Week heard in our parliamentary debate on the apprenticeship levy on May 3 (See page 8), where sector leaders admitted that they felt they had been “out of the tent” on decision-making.
One survey respondent, for example, commented: “Each new government and skills minister wants to bring in changes.

“My main concern over current changes, particularly for apprenticeships, is the lack of involvement that FE professionals have had, coupled with a huge lack of understanding of what apprenticeships are within the teams overseeing the changes.”

 

Two sixth form colleges have joined forces in what they claim is the first merger of its kind in 18 years.

The formal merger between Prior Pursglove College in North Yorkshire and Stockton Sixth Form College in Stockton-on-Tees went through on May 1.

The combined institution is now called Prior Pursglove and Stockton SFC (PPSSFC).

The former principal of Stockton SFC, Joanna Bailey, who was also interim principal of Prior Pursglove SFC following the retirement of former principal Judy Burton in December, will lead the newly-incorporated institution.

Paul Gavens, the new PPSSFC chair, said: “This will allow us to continue to fulfil our vision of providing high-quality education and life-changing experiences to young people and adults across the Tees Valley.

“We firmly believe in the benefits our merged college will produce for current and prospective students, staff, local employers and other stakeholders within our communities.”

A consultation on the merger was held between September and November last year.

The accompanying report said the SFCs had already been “working in partnership with great success” for two years, with joint staff managers introduced in finance, data and marketing.

The move has pre-empted any final recommendations from the Tees Valley area review, which both colleges are part of.

The merger is considered a “first step” and both colleges were “open to other proposals which may emerge” from the area review, PPSSFC said in a summary document published after the consultation closed.

This comes as two more SFCs confirm that they are also pursuing a potential merger.

East Norfolk SFC (ENSFC) and Lowestoft SFC (LSFC) announced on May 4 that they plan to work closely together with a view to merging, a plan that has arisen from the pilot area review in North East Norfolk and North Suffolk which took place in 2015.

LSFC has previously been involved in a planned merger with Great Yarmouth College (GYC) and Lowestoft College (LC), but pulled out to pursue joining-up with ENSFC.

Yolanda Botham, LSFC’s principal, told FE Week the decision to change merger partner had been prompted by “government policy which changes the landscape”, including the option for SFCs to convert to academy status.

“Our perfect partner to go forward in this changed landscape is ENSFC,” she said.

She added: “This is about working with someone who speaks our language. We’re two SFCs. We’ve both got strong provision.”

As previously reported by FE Week, ENSFC was recently in talks with Paston SFC and various local schools about forming a multi-academy trust (MAT).

Catherine Richards, ENSFC principal, said they were still “very interested in forming a MAT in the future”, and that this new partnership would be part of the same trust.

A two-way merger between GYC and LC will still go ahead. It had originally been planned for August 1, but a spokesperson for the colleges said the timescales were now under review.

A struggling college is in danger of becoming the third in London to be placed into administered status by the FE Commissioner, according to the latest intervention report.

Dr David Collins’ team visited Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College (EHWLC) in December, after the college had been rated inadequate by Ofsted following an inspection in October.

His report, which has now been published, recognised that progress was being made with turning around financial problems, but it warned there was “still much to do”. In addition to an inspection notice of concern, EHWLC has been subject to a Skills Funding Agency (SFA) financial notice of concern since March 2014.

The commissioner is now due to return to the college for a stocktake visit, at which point he reserves the option “to reconsider administered college status at this stage, if progress is insufficient”, his report warns.

If this were to happen, it would become the third London college the commissioner has placed into administered status — after Lewisham and Southwark College and Greenwich College.

“Clearly there has been significant and much-needed focus on the finances of the college over the last 15 months,” Dr Collins wrote in his report.

“The strategy has quite rightly been to remove costs (mainly staffing) and rationalise the sites to both reduce costs and provide much needed injections of cash,” he continued.

“As a result, the operating out-turns are beginning to turn around, but there is still much to do as income levels continue to fall steeply.”

Dr Collins recommended that the college should revisit its year-end forecast out-turn for 2015/16 “as a matter of urgency”.

He added: “From this reforecasting exercise the impact on 2016/17 needs to be modelled along with the impact of the fall in EFA funding, to ensure that sufficient action is taken in 2015/16 to reduce cost levels down to ensure a surplus and cash-generative position in 2016/17.”

However, the commissioner also warned that financial recovery should not dominate the college’s planning.

His report stressed that “the quality improvement agenda is [also] urgent”.

He said: “The corporation should ensure that priorities are not deflected towards new ventures until learner outcomes are significantly improved.”

Principal Garry Philips (pictured right) told FE Week that the college agreed with Dr Collins’ findings, and had made “real and significant progress” towards addressing his recommendations.

He said: “The actions and improvements made have resulted in the college now being a financially strong and resilient organisation, which has the learners at the heart of everything we do.”

In his follow-up letter to the college’s chair, Tony Alderman, skills minister Nick Boles urged him to “continue to pursue a college-led recovery process and in parallel, participate in the area review”.

The college is involved in the London (West) area review, part of wave two of the area reviews, which had its first steering group meeting on March 8.

A fourth university technical college (UTC) has announced it will be shutting its doors due to low student numbers.

UTC Lancashire said in a statement on May 3 it would close for good at the end of this term — just three years after it opened — due to difficulties in enrolling enough students “to secure future financial viability”.

Figures obtained by FE Week through Freedom of Information requests made earlier this year showed that the 14-to-19 vocational institution had just 113 students enrolled in 2015/16, down from 200 in 2014/15 — despite a capacity of 800.

This news comes not long after Central Bedfordshire UTC announced in March that it would close in August — after admitting it had not been able to attract “sufficient pupils”.

Hackney UTC closed in July 2014, also following problems attracting learners, and Black Country UTC shut last summer after a “disappointing” Ofsted inspection and, again, low student numbers.

Rod Dubrow-Marshall, a board member of Visions Learning Trust, which runs UTC Lancashire, said the decision to close was “hugely disappointing”.

“Unfortunately, although we have made every attempt to try to find an alternative solution, the board agreed that closure was the only available option due to low student numbers,” he said.

UTCs are the brainchild of former education secretary Lord Baker and promoted by the Baker Dearing Trust.

The trust said in a statement that it “regretfully supports” the decision to close UTC Lancashire.

Its chief executive Charles Parker acknowledged that UTCs “tend to find it hard” to recruit students at 14, as “this is not a normal age of transfer, and the UTC programme is still in its early stages”.

But he added: “Most UTCs in England are steadily building effective long-term relationships with schools, employers and local communities.”

An investigation by FE Week earlier this year found 40 per cent of the 15 remaining UTCs opened between 2010 and 2013 experience a drop in student numbers this academic year.

The largest fall was at Royal Greenwich UTC, which had 140 fewer students in 2015/16 compared to 2014/15.

Together, the 15 institutions were operating at a little over 50 per cent of their combined capacity.

Only one – the JCB Academy in Staffordshire – was at or above capacity.

UTC Lancashire was one of three to be running at less than 20 per cent capacity, along with UTC Central Bedfordshire and Wigan UTC.

Skills minister Nick Boles told the House of Commons in March that UTCs should function as part of multi-academy trusts to make them stronger.

Responding to a question from MP Gareth Johnson about Leigh UTC, Mr Boles said the institution was a “particularly good example”, not least because it was “part of a very successful multi-academy trust”.

He continued: “That is a situation we want to see replicated across the UTC movement, because UTCs are stronger inside multi-academy trusts.”

A spokesperson for the Baker Dearing Trust said that there are currently 39 UTCs open, with a further 20 in development.

Charities are caught in a “conflict of legislation” over the government’s apprenticeship levy, a senior sector figure has warned.

The requirement for charities to ensure their funds are spent directly on their missions will put them in conflict with the levy, according to Beth Brook (pictured above), the chief executive of Fair Train, the group training association for the voluntary and community sector.

Speaking at FE Week’s parliamentary debate on the levy in the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday (May 3) , she said: “There seems to be a conflict of legislation — charities and charity trustees need to make sure charity funding is spent on beneficiaries, and now we have a tax that is coming in that means that charities then need to be spending their money on something else.”

Sponsored by awarding organisation OCR, the event was hosted by Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden and chaired by FE Week interim editor Nick Linford.

It included contributions from Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges; Mike Cox, operations director of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers; and Gemma Gathercole, head of policy at OCR.

The concerns raised by Ms Brook at the debate echoed points raised by the Charity Finance Group (CFG), a third sector body with over one thousand members, in a letter sent to Skills Minister Nick Boles on December 1, 2015.

Caron Bradshaw, the group’s chair wrote: “Redistribution outside of the charity sector of apprenticeship levy funding could call into question whether money given for public benefit should be allowed to leave the sector in order to subsidise private sector employers and support private benefit.”

Mr Boles subsequently “accepted that there were difficulties around volunteering” in a meeting with the CFG in March this year, but “could not immediately offer a solution to this challenge”, according to CFG minutes.

The meeting covered a number of issues, including the risk of the levy incentivising charities to employ apprentices in place of volunteers — a point that Ms Brook also raised in Westminster on Tuesday (May 3).

Three apprenticeship frameworks that had been developed specifically for the voluntary and community sector, covering fundraising, campaigning, and volunteer management, had also fallen off the agenda, she told legislators.

She said: “At the moment there’s no apprenticeship specifically or the voluntary and community sector. “We’ve got an issue there with supply and demand — we are expecting these organisations to pay the levy but there’s nothing for them to buy.”

Furthermore, she said, “neither civil servants nor ministers are referring to the voluntary and community sector in guidance”, while messages have been “conflicting”.

She claimed that while the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) was pushing charities to pay the levy, Rob Wilson, minister for civil society, had been “castigating” them for being inefficient, and urging them to spend less.

“Despite raising these issues with both politicians and civil servants, no one within government has even acknowledged them, let alone done anything to engage with us to address them,” she told FE Week after the event.

“I am not at all confident that the issues will be addressed in advance of the introduction of the levy next year.”

Following the debate, shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden wrote to Mr Boles, asking “what discussions he has had with the Cabinet Office on the liability of charities and voluntary organisations to pay the apprenticeship levy”.

BIS declined to comment.

[slideshow_deploy id=’47162′]

> Leaked report plan exposes stark choice at 16
> 15 new ‘professional and technical’ routes with apprenticeship or substantial work experience

The first skills white paper in a decade will bring an end to mixed provision and make 16-year-olds choose between academic courses leading to university or a new technical professional education (TPE) route into work, FE Week can exclusively reveal.

The document, which it emerged last week had been delayed, is likely to be controversial for fear the plans will create a two-tier system between academic schools and vocational colleges.

It will reflect the recommendations of an independent panel, led by Lord Sainsbury and set up by the government to look into TPE reforms, which FE Week understands should be published later this month.

Jonathan Simons, head of education for the Policy Exchange group of FE and skills experts, said this could be “hugely significant” for post-16 education — particularly for school sixth forms that rival colleges in many areas.

“It will mean a dramatic change to the majority of schools’ post-16 provision, where they offer a mixture of A-Levels and vocational options, such as BTECs, and may mean some schools pulling out of post 16 provision all together — particularly if the minimum size of 200 pupils is enforced or promoted for existing schools as well as for new ones,” he told FE Week.

FE Week understands there will be 15 TPE routes, delivered either full-time over two years or through an apprenticeship.

A three-year course could also be an option, with the first year preparing students to start on TPEs.

There will be a substantial work experience element within each college-based TPE “pathway”, within its relevant industry.

Bridging courses at the higher levels between academic and vocational pathways is also being considered.

FE Week further understands that each of the 15 TPEs will be overseen by a panel of industry experts, potentially by the new Institute for Apprenticeships.

Professor Lady Alison Wolf, who is part of Lord Sainsbury’s panel, has been a firm advocate of reforming post-16 education and training.

She was highly critical of schools diverting low-attaining pupils onto courses and qualifications not recognised by employers, or accepted by colleges for progression purposes, in her landmark 2011 Review of Vocational Education.

The former Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove agreed with her findings, stating that “courses which offer no route to higher levels of education or the prospect of meaningful employment” were “not just unacceptable but morally wrong”.

The department for education said last November: “New professional and technical routes will be created, leading up to employment or degree-level study, which will be as easy to understand as academic routes.”

Skills Minister Nick Boles also announced on April 29 that schools could soon be fined if they sign students up to inappropriate A-level courses that they later abandon.

He evaded a question about the delay to the skills white paper five days later, from Labour’s Gordon Marsden during Commons business, innovation and skills questions, after this was exclusively revealed by FE Week.

The shadow skills minister subsequently requested explanation from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) of the hold-up, in a written question that had not been answered at the time of going to press.

The Department for Education and BIS also declined to answer FE Week enquiries over the leaked details of the white paper.

We understand that the government hopes to publish the white paper ahead of EU referendum purdah restrictions which begin on May 27.

————————————————————————————————————-

Editorial: Simpler at what cost?

The recent schools white paper was essentially geared at simplifying the system by making them all academies.

It seems that simplification is planned for post-16 academic and vocational learning.

The FE sector’s very own skills white paper will strip away many post-16 qualifications to make way for the introduction of 15 technical and professional education (TPE) routes.

But in an effort to funnel young people into a university or recognised work-related route the government should avoid creating a two-tier system and restricting choice.

It should think very carefully about provision below level two as well as bridging courses between the pathways at level two and beyond.

And in the creation of 15 routes, Ministers could go as far to seek simplification in accreditation, by tendering for a single awarding organisation for each.

It was considered by the previous Secretary of State for the new GCSES and A Levels, but quickly dropped in 2013.

So this might be a once in a generation opportunity to reorganise who accredits TPE routes, but surely the single point of failure problem is unsurmountable?

Nick Linford

The boss of Hull College has been accused of trying to bully a member of the shadow cabinet for supporting a staff strike action.

Karl Turner, who is the MP for Kingston upon Hull and the shadow attorney general, joined “angry and demoralised” Hull College workers on the picket line this week in a row over pay and a controversial new lesson observation system.

He addressed striking members of the University and College Union (UCU), and urged the college to listen to their concerns.

Now however, Mr Turner is calling for an investigation into the college’s chief executive Gary Warke, after he was allegedly sent a “threatening and derogatory” letter.

The MP uploaded a copy of the letter to his blog, in which Mr Warke allegedly wrote to “express my sincere disappointment that you chose to address striking UCU members without the courtesy of informing me”, adding: “We find your actions, two days before local elections highly inappropriate and disrespectful to the Hull College Group.”

Mr Turner wrote back: “I am too extremely disappointed that you have chosen to use veiled threats against me. I expect that these are the same bullying tactics that you have clearly used on your staff.”

He has now chosen to take the matter further, writing to Patricia Tomlinson, the chair of the college’s governors, calling for an investigation into the chief executive’s “threats”.

In his blog, Mr Turner added: “While Mr Warke may feel that he can bully and intimidate his staff at Hull City College, he cannot do it to me. He might pay himself more than the Prime Minister while his staff are effectively on pay freezes, but not even the Prime Minister would dare to use threats on an elected MP.”

 

Mr Warke has declined to comment any further on the matter. However, a spokesperson for Hull College spokesperson confirmed that Mr Turner has requested an investigation into his conduct.

This is not the first time Hull College has been accused of bullying behaviour. John Giddins, UCU’s Yorkshire and Humberside regional branch development organiser, told FE Week before the strike that the college had conducted its industrial relations in an “appalling and threatening” manner.

The strike action, which was backed 85 per cent of UCU members at the college, also received support from Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour party, who also joined more than 120 members of staff on the picket line.

The college spokesperson said: “The group management team and UCU continue to meet to resolve the issues of dispute, recognising the need for its overall financial position to be protected in a challenging funding climate for the FE sector, as well as ensuring the high quality of our teaching and learning is maintained.”

More than 50 MPs have urged Chancellor George Osborne to clarify VAT rules that could see sixth form colleges (SFCs) who convert to academy status being hit with even larger tax bills.

Mr Osborne announced in his November budget speech that SFCs could convert to academy status “so they no longer have to pay VAT”.

But a new letter, signed by chair of the all-party parliamentary group on SFCs Kelvin Hopkins (pictured above), and supported by 51 other MPs from across the political divide, said SFCs that academise could still have to repay VAT relief they received on buildings completed since 2011 under current HMRC rules.

It warned this could result in some SFCs paying “significantly more” VAT than ever as a result.

The letter called on the Chancellor to address the “unintended consequences” of his decision.

“This could mean that a policy introduced to reduce the VAT burden on SFCs would actually see some paying significantly more,” it warned.

“SFCs require formal confirmation that they will not be subjected to a retrospective VAT charge if they decide to academies.”

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association (SFCA) agreed.

He said: “It would make little sense if a policy introduced to reduce the VAT burden on SFCs actually saw them pay more VAT.

“We are pleased that so many MPs have urged the Chancellor to address this issue, and a swift resolution is essential if SFCs are to make sensible, well-informed decisions about their future,” he added.

Mr Osborne’s announcement in November came after a long-running campaign by the SFCA for SFCs to be exempt from paying VAT.

More than 18,000 people, including actor Colin Firth, signed the SFCA’s petition calling for SFCs to brought in-line with school and academy sixth forms, which receive a refund on the VAT they pay.

Such a move would save SFCs on average £318,000 a year, according to the SFCA.

A spokesperson for the Treasury said: “We are aware of the concerns raised and will provide further guidance shortly. The government remains committed to putting the FE sector on a sustainable footing.”

The Department for Education was unable to comment on the letter ahead of publication.

An ex-Wales international footballer is one of six men facing charges following a Serious Fraud Office (SFO) investigation into the activity of a defunct training company Luis Michael Training Ltd (LMT).

Mark Aizlewood (pictured above), aged 56, from Aberdare, who played for Wales 39 times between 1986 and 1994, was called before Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday (May 4).

He appeared alongside Christopher Martin, 51, from Newbury, Keith Williams, 43, from Anglesey, Paul Sugrue, 55, from Cardiff, Steven Gooding, 52, from Bridgwater, and Jack Harper, 29, from Southport.

They were charged with offences ranging from conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, to fraud and using a false instrument.

It is alleged LMT, which went into liquidation in 2011, claimed payments from several FE colleges for training and education services they did not, in fact, provide, according to the SFO.

Aizlewood, Sugrue, Martin and Williams were directors and shareholders of the firm.

Gooding and Harper are said to have been employed as recruiters of learners for this company.

It is alleged that a separate but linked attempt to defraud an FE college was committed by Harper, through a company called FootballQualifications.com, which has also ceased trading.

It comes after FE Week reported back in December 2013 that Aizlewood, Sugrue, Williams, and Martin had been barred from directorships for up to eight years for failing to comply with apprenticeship rules with LMT.

It worked as a subcontractor for eight FE colleges including Sparsholt College and South Thames College.

The six defendants will make their next appearance at Southwark Crown Court on June 1.