Seven FE and skills providers have been told by Skills Minister Nick Boles that their FE Commissioner interventions have come to an end, FE Week can reveal.

Letters confirming the conclusion of Dr David Collins’ involvement with the five colleges and two local authorities were published before Christmas and earlier this month, after being sent to the providers between September and November.

They were Stoke-on-Trent College, Guildford College, New College Nottingham, Weymouth College, the Marine Society College of the Sea, Norfolk County Council, and Wandsworth Borough Council.

The Skills Minister’s letter to 15,000-learner Stoke-on-Trent College, dated October 26, marked the end of an intervention which began in November 2014, when Dr Collins was called in following concerns by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) over the college’s finances.

Sarah Robinson, chief executive at the college (pictured above left), said: “The report reflects the FE Commissioner’s confidence that the college is financially able to sustain its improvements and services to the local community in the future.”

A notice of concern from the SFA was also the trigger for a visit to Guildford College by one of Dr Collins’ advisers in August 2014.

His report on the 9,476 learner college, which was rated as ‘requires improvement’ following its last Ofsted inspection in July, highlighted cash flow for its planned capital programme as the “key risk” facing the college.

Mr Boles’ letter to the college, dated September 10, confirmed that the college had addressed the necessary improvements to end the FE Commissioner’s involvement.

Dr Mike Potter, principal of Guildford College Group, said the college had “valued the support of the FE Commissioner and his team in helping the college through a period of great change”.

In his letter to Norfolk County Council, dated October 26, Mr Boles said that he was “heartened” by the action taken by the council to improve its adult education service.

The FE Commissioner’s visit to the 11,500-learner service in April came after it was branded inadequate by Ofsted in March.

Richard Bearman, chair of the Norfolk County Council Adult Education Steering Group, said: “I welcome the recognition that our improvement plan is working.”

Mr Boles’ letter to Wandsworth Borough Council, also dated October 26, confirmed that Dr Collins’ intervention at the council’s lifelong learning service, which began in February following an inadequate Ofsted rating in January 2015, had ended.

A spokesperson for the council said: “We’re obviously pleased that with the support of the Commissioner we’ve been able to raise service standards up to the desired level within such a short period of time.”

In a letter dated November 17, the Skills Minister confirmed that Weymouth College was no longer in administered college status.

As previously reported by FE Week, Dr Collins’ involvement at the 4,000 learner college, which improved its Ofsted rating from inadequate to good in December, began in March 2014 following SFA concerns over its financial health.

Nigel Evans, interim principal at Weymouth (pictured above right), said: “We’re happy that we’ve come out of administered status and delighted to be a good college. We want to do the right thing.”

In his letter to New College Nottingham (NCN), dated November 4, Mr Boles confirmed that the FE Commissioner’s intervention at the college had ended in recognition of “progress against the recommendations made as part of the original assessment [by the FE Commissioner’s team] and “on the basis that the college has decided to merge with Central College Nottingham”.

As previously reported by FE Week, Dr Collins was called in to the 20,000-learner college in February following an SFA notice of concern over its finances.

Dawn Whitemore, NCN principal, told FE Week in November that she was delighted the college’s progress had been recognised by Dr Collins.

The Skills Minister’s letter to the Marine Society College of the Sea (MSSC) in October ended a 10-month long intervention at the Lambeth-based provider, as previously reported by FE Week.

Dr Collins visited the provider, which has around 350 learners each year, on December 10, 2014, after it was slapped with an inadequate Ofsted rating in November 2014.

Mark Windsor, MSSC director of lifelong learning, told FE Week in November that he was “delighted” at the end of Dr Collins’ intervention.

Provider comments in full:

Stoke-on-Trent College

Sarah Robinson, chief executive of Stoke-on-Trent College said: “Stoke-on-Trent College is performing well with strong enrolments in all areas. However, there is a legacy of relatively high levels of borrowing to invest in the basic infrastructure of the estate.

“The college commissioned KPMG to review efficiencies prior to the FE Commissioner’s report and, with the support of the FE Commissioner’s team over the last twelve months, we have ensured we have exceeded all targets resulting in a strong operating position for last year.

“The college is engaged in wave two of area reviews and is now modelling opportunities, challenges and risks in respect of future funding models.

“The report reflects the FE Commissioner’s confidence that the college is financially able to sustain its improvements and services to the local community in the future.”

Guildford College

Dr Mike Potter, principal of Guildford College Group, said: “After all our hard work, we are naturally pleased that the FE Commissioner is satisfied that his engagement in the current process with the College is now complete.

“We have, however, certainly valued the support of the FE Commissioner and his team in helping the college through a period of great change.

“These nevertheless remain challenging times for the FE sector and we remain focused on providing quality education and training for our students and local employers.”

Norfolk County Council

Richard Bearman, chair of the Norfolk County Council Adult Education Steering Group, said: “We’re pleased that both the FE Commissioner, and Ofsted in their recent re-inspection monitoring visit, have acknowledged the significant progress made since the initial Ofsted report in March 2015.

“I welcome the recognition that our improvement plan is working and thanks to the hard work of staff we are clearly heading in the right direction. The commitment shown by all the staff and senior managers for adult education has given the cross-party steering group confidence for the future of this service in Norfolk.”

Wandsworth Borough Council

A spokesperson said: “We’re obviously pleased that with the support of the Commissioner we’ve been able to raise service standards up to the desired level within such a short period of time.
“This support was particularly useful in helping the service strengthen its strategic planning and prioritise its resources. The service is now moving forward with a much clearer view of how it can maximise funding for the benefit of local residents.”

Weymouth College

Nigel Evans, interim principal at Weymouth College, said: “Dr Collins and his team have been very helpful to us, in terms of providing clarity, and supporting us by asking us some quite challenging questions and ones that helped guide us. We’re happy in the sense that we’ve come out of administered status and we’re delighted to be a good college. We want to do the right thing.

“He made it very clear to us when we went into administered status what we had to do, and we’ve done it. In that sense, we’re pleased. Clearly, we haven’t suddenly gone from a notice of concern to outstanding, so we have to be on our toes at all times. I think we are in a different place.

“We have to be continually financial vigilant and at the same time put the needs of the students at the centre of what we do, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

New College Nottingham

Dawn Whitemore, principal at New College Nottingham said: “We’re on track to achieve our planned £1m surplus in 2015/2016.”

Ms Whitemore wrote an expert piece for FE Week in November about NCN’s road to recovery.

The Marine Society College of the Sea

Mark Windsor, MSSC director of lifelong learning, said: “We are delighted the Skills Minister has confirmed that the charity has made sufficient progress and therefore FE Commissioner-led intervention is no longer needed.”

The FE sector is “inadequate at best” according to Ofsted’s Sir Michael Wilshaw, who has also hit out at colleges’ “uniformly weak” careers advice on offer.

He is due to make the comments in a speech later this afternoon, called ‘Ambitions for English Education’, for the thinktank CentreForum.

“Educational provision, for the many children who do not succeed at 16 or who would prefer an alternative to higher education, is inadequate at best and non-existent at worst,” Sir Michael is expected to say.

Responding to achievement targets for 16-year-olds, set out by CentreForum in its annual report, published Friday (January 15), he is due to say: “But what of the quarter to a third of youngsters who cannot achieve those challenging targets? What is to become of them?

“Even when I was head at Mossbourne Academy in Hackney, which had a great academic reputation, 20 per cent of youngsters failed to reach our targets.

“Most of them went to a local FE college, usually a large, impersonal and amorphous institution, and did badly.”

Sir Michael is also expected to criticise the standard of careers advice on offer at schools and colleges.

“Preparation for employment remains poor and careers guidance in both schools and colleges is uniformly weak,” he is expected to say.

He adds: “No area of the country, however, can really claim to succeed when it comes to provision for those youngsters who do not do well at 16.

“Nor can we say that we are really delivering high-quality vocational education to youngsters of all abilities who would prefer to take this route.

“The statistics show that those who fail to achieve the required grades in maths and English at 16 make little or no progress in FE colleges two years later.

“The 16-19 Study Programme is yet to make an impact on these success rates.”

Sir Michael is also expected to outline his vision for what he called “federations” of schools, which would include university technical colleges “that would admit youngsters across the ability range to focus on apprenticeships at levels 4, 3 and 2”.

“It would not be a dumping ground for the disaffected and cater just for the lower-ability youngsters.”

The 157 Group is set for expansion following a strategic review, chief executive Ian Pretty has revealed in an exclusive interview with FE Week in which he claimed that up to 15 colleges had already asked about signing up.

The results of the review were explained at an event in London on Thursday (January 14) and Mr Pretty, who took over from executive director Dr Lynne Sedgmore in September, said members told him they wanted the group to grow.

Mr Pretty (pictured above), whose previous roles included senior roles in HMRC, the Cabinet Office and Capgemini, told FE Week: “The members wanted to take the 157 Group in a different direction, which is why they took the conscious decision to hire someone from outside the sector.

“What I said to them was in order to create this new mandate for the 157 Group we need to undertake a strategic review — the members agreed.”

He added: “Our members have agreed that we should look to take on new member colleges. We have 26 members at present and there has been discussion over whether we want to have more or less in future. We decided to look at expanding.

“I am aware that anywhere between 10 and 15 colleges who have expressed an interest in joining us, with the bulk of those contacting us over the last six months.”

26 @157Group colleges right now but talking to other forwarding thinking colleges. Watch this space. https://t.co/hb74iADM50

— Ian Pretty (@IanPretty1) January 14, 2016

The 157 Group is now based at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College, which according to the representative organisation’s website was still a member, even though it was hit with an inadequate Ofsted rating in December. It indicates a relaxation of previous membership guidelines, as Dr Sedgmore said in March 2014, with an “honourable agreement” existing among members that they would “voluntarily leave” if served with a grade four Ofsted rating.

Mr Pretty said: “A set of new attributes have been agreed to assess any future requests from a college to join. Colleges would typically be large, diverse, technically and professionally focused, employer facing, focused (or aspiring to focus) on level three four and five provision and successful.”

But, he said: “Ofsted grades one and two are regarded as successful, but inadequate is not, but there are other factors to be taken into account. There are a number of indicators of success that could be considered, for example if a college has been given a Beacon Award or impressive success rates.”

Mr Pretty acknowledged the 157 Group “was previously very focused on influencing government policy”. But he said following the review “we want to move toward a heavier focus on policy implementation — so, for example, how we can work with the government to help in area such as the development of Institutes of Technology and technical and professional education pathways including apprenticeships.

“I’m of the view that there is little to be gained from spending an awful lot of time on trying to affect a policy decision,” he said.

Mr Pretty said that over the next five years members aimed to, for example, support devolution, find alternative funding streams to government payments, and identify cost efficiencies which “means effectively collaborative buying” for example with energy suppliers.

Visit the research section on the 157 Group website for more details of its new strategy.

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Editor’s comment

Stick to founding principles not floundering principals

The 157 Group was set up in 2006 because of a perceived gap in the market.

Sir Andrew Foster described in paragraph 157 of his review of FE colleges the need for “greater involvement of principals in national representation”.

Specifically, “those from larger, successful colleges where management capacity and capability exists to release them for this work.”

The Association of Colleges represents nearly all colleges, so Foster’s paragraph 157 spawned a new membership organisation, with very particular “large and successful” entry requirements.

Jump forward a decade and the 157 Group has its second boss in chief executive Ian Pretty consulting with members as to where to take the organisation next.

Growing the large and successful college membership is to be encouraged, but at what cost to the group’s reputation if unsuccessful colleges aren’t politely shown the door?

Foster was right that the FE sector needed a 157 Group and I wish Ian and the new team another decade of success.

Chris Henwood

chris.henwood@feweek.co.uk

 

Stewart Segal will be stepping down as chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) at the end of March to move to a newly-created role at a grade one-rated apprenticeship training provider.

Mr Segal will continue in his current role until March 31, an AELP spokesperson said, before starting as the director of strategy, policy and funding at Aspire, Achieve, Advance (3aaa) on a yet-to-be agreed date in April.

Speaking exclusively to FE Week, Mr Segal said: “I’ve been working on policy issues around apprenticeships for many years, and this was just an opportunity, with the apprenticeship policy established now, with the levy, to work more closely with a training provider, more directly, to help put those policies into practice and to get a bit closer to the delivery side.”

Mr Segal said the AELP was “in a strong position” after his three years in charge.

“I think the voice of training providers is now respected and very much part of the development of policy and providers are now seen as part of the solution. And the organisation itself is very strong. Membership is growing.”

Martin Dunford OBE, chairman of AELP, said: “Stewart has done an excellent job in what is an extremely demanding role. We have many members and a multitude of relationships with government, their agencies and many other stakeholders and Stewart has managed this growing network very effectively.

“During his time as chief executive, AELP has achieved a great deal during a period of substantial change.  AELP is in a very strong position with apprenticeships, skills and employability at the centre of the government’s agenda and the voice of training providers is stronger than ever.

Mr Segal has worked with AELP in a number of roles since its formation in 1998.  He was one of the original directors and then worked with AELP as the funding and contracting expert for 10 years before becoming chief executive in 2013.

Peter Marples and Di McEvoy- Robinson, Founders and joint owners of 3aaa said they were “absolutely delighted” to announce Mr Segal’s appointment.

“We have invested heavily in the business over the past five years and these appointments are further commitment of this,” they said.

Mr Segal will continue to work with AELP as a representative member organisation and supporting the work on policy issues such as apprenticeship reform.

“I’m not disappearing, I’ll just be working with AELP in a different role,” Mr Segal told FE Week.

 

 

Senior figures from across the FE world gathered for the official launch of the Learning and Work Institute (LWI) at London’s Canary Wharf.

The new organisation was formed through the merger of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) and the Centre for Economic & Social Inclusion (Inclusion).

More than 100 guests, including Jeremy Benson, executive director for vocational qualifications at Ofqual, David Harbourne, acting chief executive of The Edge Foundation, and Carole Stott, chair of the board of the Association of Colleges, attended the launch at JP Morgan, on Wednesday (January 13).

David Hughes, former chief executive of Niace, who has taken up the role of chief executive at LWI, thanked them for showing support, adding he assumed they would agree the organisation’s new website was “sexy”.

He said: “It is great to see so many friends of both Niace and Inclusion.

“I hope you realise how excited we all are about the new organisation. The logo of course is brilliant, the branding is amazing, the new website is really quite sexy, I’m sure you’ll agree.”

“We have a very ambitious vision,” added Mr Hughes. “We don’t think that everyone has equal life chances and can realise their potential in life and are ambitious to change that.”

“We really want to make inroads into poverty and disadvantage. To achieve that, we have to work with all of you [bodies represented by the guests].”

“On the one hand this is a new organisation,” said Mr Hughes. “But we also want to continue the legacy of two really, really important long-standing organisations [Niace and Inclusion].”

Reflecting on what learning and work will mean to LWI, he said: “By ‘learning’, we mean expansive lifelong, all forms, all types and for all sorts of people.”

“We have a very broad sense of what that means and we think ‘work’ needs to be a good experience,” he added.

Other speakers, including Jeremy Moore, director general at the Department for Work and Pensions, and Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), reflected on how their organisations had worked with Niace and Inclusion in the past and could now help the new organisation achieve its aims.

The other speakers were Hang Ho, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and Helen Chicot, skills and employment manager, economic affairs at Rochdale Borough Council.

A spokesperson for the LWI, which launched its website on Tuesday (January 12), told FE Week on Tuesday (January 12) that no staff members from either body had been laid off as a result of the merger.

Niace, based in Leicester, and Inclusion, based in London, announced their alliance in February 2015 and said at the time that future merger could not be ruled out.

The full merger and was confirmed at the IntoWork Convention on July 14, 2015.

The new name of the LWI had previously been approved by Niace members on November 4.

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The head civil servant at the Department for Education (DfE) Chris Wormald will move to the Department of Health later this year.

Mr Wormald was appointed Permanent Secretary for the DfE in March 2012.

But the government announced today that he will take up the same role at the Department of Health, replacing current boss Dame Una O’Brien, who will stand down at the end of April.

Mr Wormald, who said his new appointment was a “privilege and an honour”, joined the DfE in 2012, having previously worked as director general in the deputy prime minister’s office and as head of the Cabinet Office’s economic and domestic secretariat.

He has also served as director general for local government and regeneration at the Department for Communities and Local Government, and was principal private secretary to former education secretaries Estelle Morris and Charles Clarke.

Mr Wormald appeared before MPs on the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee hearing on October 19 that ‘overseeing financial sustainability in the FE sector’, as reported in FE Week.

He addressed the issue of whether new school sixth forms should be approved while post-16 area reviews are going on.

Hwe told MPs that the reviews would not influence approval decisions “at this moment”.

Education secretary Nicky Morgan and cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood, who is head of the paid civil service, both paid tribute today to Mr Wormald and his tenure at Sanctuary Buildings, but no details of plans to find his successor have been announced.

Ms Morgan said Mr Wormald had done a “superb job” in leading the DfE, and played a “crucial role” in major reforms.

She said: “Ministers and staff will miss Chris hugely when he moves on, and we wish him all the best in taking up this new challenge.”

Sir Jeremy Heywood echoed Ms Morgan’s praise, and said he would bring a “wealth of leadership, implementation and policy experience” to his new role.

A Cumbria sixth form college rapped over the knuckles for the condition of its finances by the Education Funding Agency (EFA) is hoping a merger will solve its funding problems.

Barrow Sixth Form College was issued with a financial notice to improve this month having been graded as inadequate for financial health in September.

The 900-learner college, rated by Ofsted in May as good, pointed to falling numbers of Year 11 students in local schools — from 959 in 2009 to 747 this year — among the issues it was facing.

It also explained how government funding for 16 and 17-year-olds was 22 per cent lower than 11 to 16-year-olds — and a further 17.5 per cent less for 18-year-olds.

However, it is in talks with Furness College, three miles away, about a possible merger to become “financially strong”.

Mike Phipps, governors’ board chair, said: “Our challenging financial situation is the same as that faced by many colleges across the country as funding to the sixth form sector has been cut, in real terms, year on year since 2010. Funding levels will remain the same for the next five years despite the fact that costs will rise.

“Barrow Sixth Form receives one of the lowest rates of funding per learner of any educational establishment in Cumbria and is not able to reclaim any VAT unlike schools.”

He added: “We are working hard to be proactive to find a solution and are currently in talks with Furness College about a merger.

“A merged college would be financially strong and ensure school leavers have a broad choice of education provision with opportunities to mix academic and vocational training to meet students’ career goals and the needs of our business community.”

The two colleges are expected to feature among wave three area reviews, taking place from April.

But Barrow was told by the EFA to prepare a corporation-approved financial plan by November last year to, according to the notice, “ensure that the college remains in satisfactory financial health through 2015/16 in readiness for the planned structural change at the end of that period”.

An implementation plan, reviewed by Sixth Form College Commissioner Peter Mucklow, is to be handed over by February 19 to the EFA, where a spokesperson said: “We are monitoring Barrow’s progress to ensure students continue to get the best possible education, and the notice will be in place until we are satisfied that effective action has been taken to address our concerns.”

John Butler, governors’ board chair at 3,000-learner Furness College, which was rated as good in April, said the two colleges had already been working together closely and that both boards were “keen” to explore how the relationship could develop to broaden the provision for students ahead of area review.

“This is an excellent opportunity to develop the post-16 curriculum in Furness to ensure that students can choose the best course to enable them to achieve their career aspirations, be that through A-levels, vocational courses or a combination of both,” he said.

“By coming together, the colleges will be in the strongest possible position to serve the needs of young people, adults and employers and to secure the long-term sustainability of education and skills training in the area.”