Good morning ladies and gentlemen. We meet in a sombre context.

After this morning’s session I’ll be returning to London and I hope you will agree on your behalf we will be travelling to the French Embassy to the sign the book of condolence after the terrible attacks on Friday night.

And I am sure it will have struck you as it has stuck me looking at those images in our newspapers that the victims were overwhelmingly young.

Not very different from the young men and women to who you and your colleagues dedicate your lives. And I want to thank you in the FE college system for your positive embrace in at the prevent duty which came into force on the 18 of September.

But larger than that we need to reflect on today on our commodity, moral and professional to do all we can to give those young lives and young hearts who might otherwise fall prey to extremist ideology a sense of hope, a sense of possibility and a sense of belonging and hope that this country can offer them a secure prosperous and happy future.

Possibilities that they can forge a career which fulfils them, rewards them and enables them to support their families and maybe above all a sense that they belong in this society that they, whatever their faith, whatever their race, that they are our brothers, our sisters, our cousins our neighbours and we value them and we respect them equally.

Now terrorism and extremism are not the only difficult challenges that we face. It is seven years since the start of the last recession and unlike others we will never claim that we have abolished the …. And in some day in the future, and none of us can know when, there will be difficult economic times again.

So we wanted to make an argument to the British people in the run up to the general election which was a simple one which said that their security, their economic security, their personal security and our national security depended on us taking some difficult but essential steps to restore the country’s economic strength.

And we won with the argument about the deficit. We secured, according to opinion polls, the support of even of those many who did not vote Conservative so that opposition of the deficit had to be brought down so that the economy was to remain strong.

And we won a clear mandate for further spending cuts to bring the budget into surplus by 2019. Now we do not relish making cuts.

There is absolutely no pleasure in the process of cutting budgets that go to FE colleges or any other part of public service. It would be easier not to do it but we made an argument, we won an argument. We made promises and the British people now expect us to deliver on those promises. Now I can’t give you any advanced insight into what is going to happen in the spending review.

We do not have long to wait and we can talk about it further after the chancellor has announced it. But you know and I know that those of us and those of you that are engaged in FE will not be insulated from further spending cuts.

So while we wait to discover how much those cuts are going to be and in what budgets, it seems to me that the best use of our time and energy is to ask this simple question, ‘what can you do and what can we in the government help you do to get ready for the years to come?’.

And the first thing you can do is to help you become stronger as institutions, more sustainable, more able to manage the impact of those budgets that shrink and capitalise on the potential of those that are going to increase.

And the first thing you can do is to help you become stronger as institutions. More sustainable, more able to manage the impact of those budgets that shrink and capitalise on the potential of those that are going to increase.
That is why we have launched this process of area reviews.

You are independent institutions and ultimately it is on you that both the responsibility and initiative falls for deciding how best to face the future. But I believe that you are better off, stronger together, rather than fragmented and vulnerable.

I believe that the first area review which took place in Norfolk and Suffolk has given us a very good model of how the process should work.

It began sensibly enough with an analysis of that area’s needs — talking to the local economic partnership, to local employers and other groups.

They then drew up different structural options involving sharing the costs, specialisation and curriculum reform.

They have now decided that Great Yarmouth College, Lowestoft College and Lowestoft Sixth Form College will merge to form one group and two other sixth form colleges are currently considering a range of possible thoughts of collaboration.

Now I did not dictate that outcome. I did not say ‘here is the solution that central government wants’ and it would not have been proper for me to do so because colleges are independent.

But equally we were very, very clear in underlining that there is a limit to the ability of government to go on helping out colleges with long-running deficits.

If I’m to persuade the Chancellor to give us some money to support college through difficult years, I need to be able to show him that colleges are taking the initiative, taking some difficult decisions, reorganising themselves to be stronger for the future.

Area reviews are a necessary condition of a strong and resilient FE sector, but by themselves they will not be sufficient.

We also need to help you take advantage of those funding streams that are growing. Advanced learner loans where progress to date for reasons we all understand have been limited and most of all apprenticeships.

Total government spending on apprenticeships grew by £400m, or nearly 30 per cent, between 2009/10 and 2015/16. In 2009/10, the taxpayer was investing every year £1.1bn in apprenticeship training. In 2015/16 it will be £1.5bn.

With that 3m target and just briefly, though I adore Alison Wolf, I do not agree that that target is a distraction. Even if we hit that target, we will still have fewer apprentices per 1,000 of population than almost any of our European competitors and if it works for them and makes them productive I do not think we should shrink from the same level of ambition.

So that target is going to provide further investment and the new apprenticeship levy that the Chancellor will be announcing the level for in the spending review will provide substantial additional resources to support training in the nation’s apprenticeships.

So while I cannot tell you how much, I can promise you we will be spending a great deal more of taxpayers’ money on apprenticeship training in 2019/20 than the £1.5bn that we are spending in 2015/16.

But the truth is that the FE sector only secures about £500m of that— 37 per cent of all funding for apprenticeship training will go to FE colleges in 2015/16, but 60 per cent goes to private training providers.

Now I’m a Conservative. I believe in private enterprise and competition and I salute the work of some of the outstanding private training providers who have raised standards and enabled companies of all shapes and sizes to take advantage of apprenticeships.

But as your friend I have to ask you this ‘why on earth are you letting these guys nick your lunch?’.

Now today I want to ask you to raise your sights and sign up to a shared ambition that by 2020 FE colleges will be responsible for two thirds not one third of all apprenticeship training and will receive two thirds of what will be a much larger pot of funding.

I’m not going to intervene to somehow stop private training providers from winning that business but I want to help you give them a very good run for their money.

I’m absolutely confident that you can do it. At the moment, apprenticeship contracts are awarded by the Skills Funding Agency and the Education Funding Agency, but by 2020 there is going to be a complete shift in the way this market operates. Nobody will be receiving an SFA or EFA contract for apprenticeship training by 2020.

Employers will receive vouchers that they’ve either paid for through the levy or some other means and they will take the decision about what training they want to buy and where do they want to buy it from.

This is your opportunity. You have the profile in your communities, you have relationships with local employers through chambers of commerce and local economic partnerships, you have the facilities and qualified teaching staff.

But you do need, most of you, to change your approach. You need to be more flexible and entrepreneurial and quicker off the mark.

You will need to ask employers what they want and work out how you can provide it, not just offer them what is convenient for you to deliver. I want to help you learn from those colleges that have been remarkably successful in their apprenticeship performance. If they can do it, I absolutely know that you can do it too.

I want to work with Martin and the AoC to ensure that you have all of the tools, all the advice, all the benchmarks, all the leadership to help you make it happen.

I understand that there is much more to the life of a great FE college than apprenticeships and there always will be, but the best way to secure the future of the broader provision that you are responsible for in your communities, the best way to secure the opportunities for the vulnerable people, older people who have been failed, people with special needs and disabilities, in tough times is to ensure that you are really good at apprenticeships, because if you can secure two thirds of the funding that will be available for apprenticeships by 2019/20 you will prosper as institutions and be able to support the broad range of provision that you all believe.

Apprenticeships are the future and I want the FE sector to lead the way, thank you very much.”

Official figures released this morning show the number of apprenticeship starts for 2014/15 was up by 59,500 from the previous year – reversing the decline of the previous two years.

The final (rather than provisional) figures in today’s Statistical First Release show there were 499,900 apprenticeship starts in 2014/15, an increase of 13.5 per cent from 2013/14’s total of 440,400.

The figures largely confirm provisional numbers released last month, and reported by FE Week, showing the first full-year rise since 2011/12, although the numbers were not back up to that year’s high of 520,600.

While figures for all ages last year were up, the biggest growth was in 25+ apprenticeship starts, which rose to 213,900 for the year – an increase of 52,300 or 35 per cent on the previous year’s figure of 161,600.

The number of 25+ apprenticeship starts was almost back up to the 2012/13 high of 230,000, following the scrapping of the unpopular 24+ advanced learning loans for apprentices, which were widely believed to be responsible for a drop in adult apprenticeship starts.

The number of 16 to 18-year-olds starting an apprenticeship in 2014/15 was up by 6,100, or 5.1 per cent, to 125,900. It continued the upward trend from 2013/14, when the 16 to 18 age group was the only one to show an increase, from 114,500 in 2012/13 to 119,800 in 2013/14.

The smallest growth in apprenticeship starts in 2014/15 was among 19 to 24-year-olds. At 160,200, the figures was up just 1,100 or 0.7 per cent from the 2013/14 figure of 159,100.

Today’s figures also show 400 starts for 2014/15 under the new Trailblazer apprenticeship standards.

The release also confirmed that the number of traineeship starts was just short of former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s target of 20,000 starts, with 19,400 starts for 2014/15. This was up 86.5 per cent, or 9,000, from last year’s total of 10,400.

The long wait for FE providers to sign up for Chartered Status ended today with applications for membership finally open.

Colleges and independent learning providers can apply for membership to the Chartered Institution for Further Education (CIFE), set up in 2013, in the latest “significant step” on the route to chartered status for the FE sector.

The body, which was granted the Great Seal of the Realm in October, published its regulations and guidance for applicants today (November 17), which detail the standards  providers need to meet in order to join.

To be considered for membership, providers must have an overall rating of good or outstanding at their most recent Ofsted inspection, and be in receipt of public funding from the Skills Funding Agency (SFA).

Providers must also show how they can meet the CIFE’s quality standards, covering a range of areas including teaching and learning, governance, finance and engagement with the local community and employers.

“This is another significant step along the road to the development of a Royal Chartered body in the Further Education sector,” said Lord Lingfield, chair of CIFE (pictured above).

“There is still much to be done but we have reached the point when we should open our doors to organisational members, and bring together those high performing organisations who are key to shaping the sector’s future.”

Click here for more details on applying for Chartered Status.

• – Apprenticeships account for less than 5 per cent of Adult Skills Budget for some large FE colleges

• – AoC says colleges ‘see significant role’ in hitting 3m target and should ‘start planning strategic response’

 

The college sector’s performance on apprenticeships has come under attack after exclusive FE Week analysis uncovered budgets with as little as 2 per cent allocated to the programme at the heart of the government’s economic strategy.

Skills Funding Agency figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed startlingly low levels of apprenticeship delivery at many colleges — and particularly in London.

Colleges, on average, have 27 per cent of their 2015/16 Adult Skills Budget (ASB) allocated to apprenticeships, FE Week found, compared with 60 per cent at other providers.

But the college figure varies significantly across the country, with London colleges averaging just 12 per cent.

Ian Cass, managing director of the Forum of Private Business, which represents more than 25,000 small and medium-sized businesses, called the figures “worrying”, adding that “it suggests that there is a bias against apprenticeships”.

Given the “very real need” for apprenticeships, said Mr Cass, “we would argue that FE colleges are failing in their duty of care to their students if they do not give them the skills needed to get work in the real world”.

Teresa Frith, senior skills policy manager for the Association of Colleges (AoC), said colleges had “always been about more than apprenticeships” and were “working hard” to respond to changes in government policy.

However, nationally, 11 colleges (see table below) have set aside less than 5 per cent of their ASB on apprenticeships. Among those with the lowest set out for apprenticeships was City and Islington College, where just 2 per cent (£202,787) of its £9,733,513 ASB will be spent on apprentices.

The college declined to comment, but ministers will be unimpressed by the figures with the government pushing to hit its 3m apprenticeships target for this Parliament.

Indeed, the Department for Education is thought to be looking at ways to get more 16-year-old vocational learners onto one-year courses and then into apprenticeships. And just days ago, Prime Minister David Cameron said he wanted “either apprenticeships or universities for almost everybody”.

Meanwhile, funding for the programme is expected to be protected in the Comprehensive Spending Review this month, as it has from other funding cuts this year, leaving the remainder of the ASB on the chopping block.

There are, according to the information supplied to FE Week, 25 general FE colleges whose 19+ apprenticeship allocation represents less than 10 per cent of their 2015/16 ASB allocation.

Ten of these, six of which are in London, have a combined 16 to 18 and 19+ apprenticeship allocation of less than £500,000 for 2015/16.

Ms Frith said: “Colleges take their roles very seriously and are working very hard to keep up with and respond to the significant changes that are being made at national policy level around apprenticeships, devolution and funding.

“Colleges have always been about more than apprenticeships and we know that colleges deliver a higher percentage of the Stem subjects and higher level apprenticeships than other providers.

“A college’s response to apprenticeship reform has to be made within the context of the full mix of the education and training they provide and so it is not surprising to see no direct results as yet.

“The precise detail of some of the more significant elements of the reform is not yet known, so colleges should not be expected to be implementing plans. However, colleges should start planning their strategic response to the reforms that impact on their provision, including apprenticeships.

“While colleges did not set the target of 3m apprenticeship starts, they do see a significant role for themselves in supporting its achievement, but they must balance this against the needs of their local business communities and students.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: “Colleges play an important role in the delivery of apprenticeships and we continue to work with them to reach our ambition of 3m apprenticeships by 2020.”

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Editor’s comment

Apprenticeships or bust

It is widely feared the Adult Skills Budget (ASB), which includes apprenticeships, will be slashed by at least 40 per cent in the upcoming budget.

Apprenticeships will be protected, so on current allocations it would require a 68 per cent cut to the non-apprenticeship delivery to find the 40 per cent saving.

Let me rephrase that. Colleges doing little or no apprenticeships would see their ASB cut by a whopping 68 per cent.

These colleges must surely quickly expand their provision and take advantage of the new bi-annual Skills Funding Agency apprenticeship growth requests?

Time will tell if the apprenticeship reforms help, but it may also be running out as the cuts and area reviews close in.

Act now colleges, before it’s too late.

Chris Henwood

chris.henwood@feweek.co.uk

Labour has secured an Opposition Day debate to propose that the 16 to 19 education budget be given the same protection as that of schools.

The debate takes place tomorrow and will see Labour MPs argue that government should “protect the education budget in real terms, from the early years through to 19 years old”.

It comes with the Comprehensive Spending Review on November 25, and just a week after Labour new House of Commons Library research showed the budget for FE colleges could fall by at least £1.6bn under Government spending plans — the equivalent of four-in-ten FE colleges.

Labour’s education team arrived at the figures, a party spokesperson said, after working with the House of Commons Library to predict how Department for Education savings of 25 per cent and 40 per cent, as requested by Chancellor George Osborne, might be realised within unprotected budgets.

Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell (pictured above) said Labour had committed to protecting the whole education budget from the early years to 19, because “we value the entire journey of a child through education, including early years and post-16”.

Her party’s motion reads: “This House believes you cannot build a 21st Century economy on falling investment in education; notes that the 16-19 education budget fell by 14 per cent in real terms over the last Parliament, and that many colleges are reporting severe financial difficulties, including no longer offering courses in subjects key for our country’s competitiveness.

“It further notes that over 100 chairs of FE colleges have warned that further cuts to 16-19 funding will tip their colleges over the precipice, and risk the nation’s productivity; believes that, given that the participation age has now risen to 18 years old, it makes no sense for the post-16 education budget to be treated with less importance than the 5-16 schools budget.

“It further believes there should be a joined-up approach to education across departments and calls on this Government to protect the education budget in real terms, from the early years through to 19 years old.”

Ms Powell said: “At a time when we are rightly expecting all young people to stay in education until 18 years old, scaling back resources and opportunities is wrong-headed. With 16 to 19 education at the sharp end the government is curbing opportunities for young people.”

A source close to Education Secretary Nicky Morgan dismissed Labour’s figures as “back of the fag packet nonsense” and “scare-mongering”.

A government spokesperson said: “We have protected the schools budget and ended the unfair difference between post-16 schools and colleges by funding them per student, rather than discriminating between qualifications.

“We have provided sufficient funds for every full-time student to do a full timetable of courses regardless of institution.”

He added that the base rate of funding for 16 to 19-year-olds in the academic year 2015/16 would continue at the same level as in the academic year 2014/15: £4,000 for full-time 16 and 17-year-olds and £3,300 for full-time 18-year-olds.