Firms taking on apprentices have been advised to stick “to their core business” — after Citroën UK became the second employer branded inadequate by Ofsted under the common inspector framework.

The education watchdog’s damning verdict on the car manufacturer — published on May 27 — means that a quarter of employers inspected under the new framework launched in September have been awarded the lowest possible rating.

Questions have now been raised about government moves to encourage more employers to run their own training, with the average Ofsted rating across all eight employer providers inspected in the last nine months being a disappointing three.

In contrast, the independent training providers averaged grade two under the common inspection framework, as FE Week revealed on May 2.

And after learning of Citroën’s inadequate rating, Mark Dawe, the chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (pictured), warned: “Those organisations engaging with the apprenticeship programme for the first time under the [apprenticeship] levy may be better off sticking to their core business and instead using the services of an experienced training provider.”

The report on Citroën, which has a Skills Funding Agency (SFA) allocation of £1.07m for 2015/16, highlighted concerns over leadership and safeguarding arrangements.

Inspectors found leaders had failed to set their subcontractor “robust and challenging apprenticeship delivery targets”.

According to the SFA’s list of declared subcontractors, Calex UK has a subcontract with Citroën UK worth £750,000, as of December 15.

The report urged leaders at Citroën to “implement a more rigorous approach to challenging and monitoring” Calex UK’s performance.

It added: “Safeguarding arrangements for apprentices are inadequate.”

A spokesperson for Citroën and its subcontractor said: “Having reviewed this latest Ofsted report, it is clear the new overall rating is due to a much greater emphasis on safeguarding, which, if judged to be ineffective, automatically grades the provision as inadequate, regardless of the quality of the programme in all other areas.

“We acknowledge and accept the need to update the safeguarding elements of the programme. This is currently being actioned and will be in place, alongside further enhancements to maths and English provision, prior to a follow-up meeting with Ofsted.”

He added: “It is important to note that the majority of apprentices on our programme go on to lead an exciting career within the Citroën UK dealer network.”

Pearson was meanwhile slammed by Ofsted in January for its inadequate apprenticeship provision, after the inspection team found “no key strengths”.

A Pearson spokesperson said in response: “We take this report very seriously and are making further improvements in our programme so that our apprentices receive the highest possible standard of learning and support.”

Next Retail was also heavily criticised last year, before the common inspection framework was launched, for its apprenticeship provision.

After being branded inadequate by Ofsted following an inspection in July, the retailer was issued a notice of concern by the SFA and temporarily barred from taking on new apprentices.

A spokesperson told FE Week it “completely accepted the report’s findings and recommendations, and immediately commenced a vigorous programme of improvements”.

When asked by FE Week if it would be pulling funding from Citroën following the inadequate Ofsted rating, a Skills Funding Agency spokesperson said: “We are considering Citroën UK’s Ofsted inspection in line with our intervention strategy.”

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In the driving seat for government apprentice reforms

The government’s apprenticeship reforms – which aim to put employers “in the driving seat” – are likely to see more employers delivering their own in-house apprenticeship provision.

The government said in its ‘English Apprenticeships: Our 2020 Vision’ document in December that, alongside colleges “taking a greater share of the apprenticeship training market”, it would expect to see “employers offering apprenticeship training directly”.

And guidance published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on the apprenticeship levy, published in April, said all employers who wanted to use their levy funds to pay for in-house provision would need to register.

It said: “We recognise that employers can be extremely successful training providers and we want to encourage those who want to take this route to deliver high-quality apprenticeships.”

Asked if BIS stood by this view in light of Citroën’s inadequate rating, a spokesperson said: “If an employer wants to use funds in their digital account to pay for apprenticeship training that they provide and manage, they will need to be an approved training provider.”

As revealed at FE Week’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference in March, the government is consulting on a new set of criteria that training providers will need to meet to be allowed to deliver apprenticeships.

FE Week understands that one of the key issues is where to set the bar, to ensure that it is sufficiently challenging but not so challenging that employer providers can’t reach it.

AELP chief executive Mark Dawe called for the criteria to be “robust” but also “easily understood by applicants”.

He added: “We would expect financial health to be a consideration and also the ability to deliver high-quality apprenticeships.”

Mid Cheshire College’s principal Richard Hollywood (pictured) is standing down – after its Ofsted rating tumbled from outstanding to inadequate.

The announcement was made just a few days after West Cheshire College revealed that its principal Nigel Davies and his former deputy Adrian Humphreys had also left their posts — raising questions about the state of FE in the region.

Both colleges fall under the current Cheshire and Warrington area review, which held its first steering group meeting on January 29.

Mr Hollywood had led Mid Cheshire since February 2013, after joining in 2006 as an assistant principal.

Inspectors had previously visited the college in November 2008, when it was rated outstanding across the board.

But the March report criticised college leaders for having “allowed the quality of provision to decline to unacceptably low standards”.

It also found poor progress on 16-to-19 study programmes, which it says accounts for around two thirds of the college’s 2,600 learners.

A college spokesperson told FE Week: “Richard Hollywood has decided to step down from his position as principal of Mid Cheshire College.

“The governors would like to thank him for his service and dedication to the college over the last 10 years.”

The college said there was nothing further to add, after being questioned over Mr Hollywood’s reasons for leaving.

FE Week previously reported that Mr Davies and Mr Humphreys had both moved on “in order to explore new career and other professional opportunities”.

Helen Nellist, who was already a member of the college’s leadership team, was subsequently appointed acting principal.

Asked by FE Week why he had left the college, Mr Davies said he had found his time at the college “very enjoyable” and his departure was “purely a professional matter”.

Brendan Hartland, retired deputy principal of Birmingham sixth form Josiah Mason College, spoke of his sadness over Mr Davies leaving and the wider issue of pressure being placed on FE senior managers.

He said: “The FE and skills sector does appear to be losing significant numbers of staff and managers.

“Over the last 12 to 18 months I have spoken to college lectures, middle managers and senior managers who have either left FE or are considering doing so.

“Many of these individuals cite the current financial pressures for their decision to leave the sector and I fear for the survival of the FE sector as we know it beyond 2020.”

His comments come after Adele Wills, principal of King George V College in Southport since 2010, also left her post.

A spokesperson informed FE Week that vice-principal Anne-Marie Francis (pictured) had taken over as acting-principal on June 1.

She added that staff and students were informed prior to the release of a statement on the college website, but the interview process for a full time replacement had yet to begin.

It was then announced on June 2 that the principal of Guernsey College, Saboohi Famili, would be leaving her post at the end of the academic year.

Ms Famili said she had been frustrated by slow progress and delays in decision making at Guernsey which led her to leave.

Guernsey College said current vice principal, Louise Misselke, will be interim principal until a successor is appointed “in the coming months”.

The government has admitted that fewer than one in ten 19- to 24-year-olds who complete a traineeship course move on to start an apprenticeship.

Traineeships were launched three years ago, as part of the government’s drive to help low-skilled young people onto apprenticeships — but publicly available statistics only provide overall “positive” progression numbers to a job, apprenticeship, further full-time education or other training.

The government has repeatedly refused to answer questions about how many progressions there were from traineeships to apprenticeships — so it took a Freedom of Information request with the Skills Funding Agency to find out.

The figures showed that just 450 (nine per cent) of 5,200 completions for 19- to 24-year-olds in 2014/15 started an apprenticeship.

The figure was slightly higher for under-19s — with 2,280 (31 per cent) of 7,400 completions progressing — but it still meant that overall progression to apprenticeships stood at just 22 per cent.

This raises serious questions about the value for money the government is getting out of the programme, as it pushes for three million apprenticeship starts by 2020.

Richard Atkins was Association of Colleges (AoC) president when the body made traineeships reform one of its key general election manifesto pledges last year — stating they “should be converted into pre-apprenticeship training, specifically created to prepare 16- and 17-year-olds for a full apprenticeship”.

And after being presented with FE Week’s findings, Atkins, who was principal at Exeter College from January 2002 to March 2016, said: “I suggest that a review of traineeships is undertaken this year, so that more young people are able to fill the employer vacancies for apprentices.

“I believe it is critically important that a high quality pre-apprenticeship programme is developed in this country.

“Many young people are not employment-ready when they leave school or complete a level one programme at college.

“We need to equip these potential apprentices with the skills that employers want, especially the soft skills that will enable them to achieve selection by an appropriate employer. Traineeships should fill this gap.”

An AoC spokesperson told FE Week: “Our 2015 manifesto argued that the government should develop a strong pre-apprenticeship route and there is still a case for doing this.”

There were 19,400 traineeship starts in 2014/15, an increase of 86.3 per cent on the previous academic year, when concern was raised about the disappointingly low level of interest in the courses.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills declined to respond directly to Mr Atkins’ call for a review, but a spokesperson told FE Week: “We will continue to expand traineeships to create opportunities up and down the country so we can help as many young people as possible to get on.”

“There is no requirement for those completing a traineeship to take up an apprenticeship – a traineeship is designed to give school leavers and young people the skills to get on the career ladder. While for some a traineeship might be a step before an apprenticeship, it can also be a step in the right direction for other employment.”

Click here for Paul Offord’s editorial on this issue.

Unions have rejected a proposed link-up between Bury College and the University of Bolton — warning it would be more of a takeover than a merger.

The University and College Union (UCU) and Unison have joined forces to oppose the move, which is planned for August.

In a joint response to the consultation on the proposed merger, which ran from April, they claimed the future of FE provision in Bury was being undermined.

They said: “The consultation document consistently refers to the proposal as a merger, when it seems what is proposed is a takeover. Staff are concerned about the loss of independence of Bury College even if branding remains the same.”

The unions claimed that staff, students and the public should have been properly consulted on wider options available to the college – not just the merger plans.

It added: “Why, if Bury College is an outstanding, successful, and financially robust organisation can it not continue to stand alone?

“We understand other colleges such as Hopwood Hall and Salford City are positively considering this option.”

It also described the proposed governance arrangements as “extremely worrying”, adding that “it is our understanding that the board of governors of Bury College will be dissolved and taken over by the university board”.

Jenny Martin, regional organiser for Unison, spoke out after the consultation response had been lodged with the college.

She said: “We are worried that any governance arrangements in the new organisation would leave the interests of Bury and FE under-represented.”

Martyn Moss, a UCU regional official, added: “Bury College rightly has a proud reputation for excellence and we do not believe serious questions about the future of education in Bury were answered in the flawed consultation process.”

Merging with the university was found to be the “most compelling” option available to the college in the Greater Manchester area review, according to the college.

Bury College was rated ‘outstanding’ across the board at its last Ofsted inspection in 2007.

But the University of Bolton was ranked 122 out of 127 UK universities in the Complete University Guide’s 2017 university league table, and 93 out of 119 universities in the Guardian newspaper’s 2017 university table.

The college’s principal, Charlie Deane, told FE Week that the plans had received 265 responses to the consultation from staff, students, parents, employers and other stakeholders.

Mr Deane said: “The governors will form their opinion and make their decision based on careful consideration of all the responses received, in addition to legal and financial due diligence.”

A spokesperson for the university dismissed the unions’ response as “unsubstantiated conjecture and scaremongering”.

“Following a successful merger, the university is happy to publicly commit to enhancing the educational provision in Bury and in particular strengthening the already good finances underpinning the college,” the spokesperson said.

He added: “The university wishes to assure stakeholders that the integrity of Bury college as a strong provider of further and higher education will remain and be enhanced following the proposed merger.”