Providers offering Trailblazer apprenticeships are in a race against time to submit their learner numbers after the deadline shifted four days closer with the Skills Funding Agency having decided to close the Hub.

The twelfth monthly Individualised Learner Record data return window for 2014/15 for the new employer-designed programmes was meant to close at 6pm on Monday, July 27 — but in its weekly Update newsletter, published today, the agency said the uploading software would be unavailable from 5pm on July 23 until the morning after the initial deadline.

The Update said providers would “not be able to post your individualised learner record (ILR) R12 data return” using the Hub during this period.

It added: “During this time, we will move the infrastructure supporting our business applications to a new supplier.”

The data, revealing how many learners are studying which courses, is used to calculate providers’ funding for July.

And the closure could also cause problems for providers returning data on non-trailblazer apprenticeships — the upload deadline for these programmes is August 6, just seven working days after the Hub reopens, whereas providers would normally have a window of 10 working days to submit.

Providers will be unable to view their contracting and performance data or post vacancies on the Apprenticeship Vacancy Matching System during the closure period.

The Update said: “We will issue guidelines next week to help you prepare and plan activities, specifically in relation to apprenticeship vacancies.”

However, the agency has yet to comment on whether it will be reviewing the decision or why it was taken.

A report out today calls for a new system of accrediting “sub-degree technical education” in which FE colleges and independent learning providers can “design and deliver their own qualifications”.

Dr Scott Kelly, in his report entitled Raising productivity by improving higher technical education: Tackling the level four and level five conundrum, said the new system should embrace existing “well-established brands such as Higher Nationals”.

And providers, including accredited higher education institutions, would play a key role in design “if they can demonstrate sufficient rigour and industry engagement”, according to Dr Kelly, who served as a policy adviser to former Skills Minister Jon Hayes from 2010 to 2012.

His 48-page report for the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), in partnership with Pearson, was due to be launched at a Parliamentary event today with Shadow Education Minister for Young People John Woodcock.

Dr Kelly’s proposals come in response to his assessment of the “detrimental impact on the British economy of a lack of advanced technical skills” in which “despite the genuine efforts of recent governments to increase the number of people studying for work-related qualifications at levels four and five, progress has been slow”.

“The FE sector is ideally placed to play a larger role in the provision of technical and professional qualifications but expansion must be dependent on links to local employers and on teaching that combines pedagogical expertise with knowledge of current practice in the workplace,” the report says.

It describes the current system of qualification design, validation and quality assurance as “complex” and claims that it “inhibits the development of short-cycle technical qualifications and also employer involvement in curriculum and programme design”.

“Without more substantial reform, sub-degree provision will continue to sit uncomfortably in the divide between higher education and FE and the skills system, and a great number of agencies will continue to be involved, including the Quality Assurance Agency, Higher Education Funding Council for England [HEFCE], the Skills Funding Agency, professional bodies, Ofqual and Ofsted,” the report says.

“While universities have well-developed and relatively sophisticated systems for developing and validating new degree-level awards, these processes are not well suited to short-cycle technical education.

“The model is rooted in traditional academic disciplines and involves long validation procedures that can be slow to respond to changing business needs.”

Dr Kelly proposes a “clear distinction between work-oriented qualifications linked to specific job roles and qualifications primarily intended as stepping-stones to first degrees”. The former, he argues, should be accredited and funded by a new body, while the latter should remain the responsibility of HEFCE.

He outlines the necessary features of a better system as including a well-defined set of institutions with a core mission based around technical and professional qualifications.

Hi report also says employers are alienated by overlapping, ad hoc and piecemeal initiatives to fund and accredit work-related education but they do want a formal role in determining the content of qualifications and a stable policy.

Dr Kelly further looks at teaching and argues that “if FE in England is to play a leading role in the delivery of technical and professional qualifications at sub first-degree level, consideration needs to be given to the standards of teaching and the paucity of links to practice in the workplace”.

He said: “A concerted policy effort is needed to provide a clear path to high-levels skills. Funding should prioritise the pressing needs of businesses and learners rather than always being directed at yet more undergraduate places and lower-level apprenticeships.

“A new funding mechanism, supported by employers, would give technical and professional education a strong voice in the education system — as in other countries — for the first time.”

David Corke, director of education and skills policy at the Association of Colleges (AoC), said: “FE colleges are well placed to address the shortage of higher level skills and they are already providing good-quality technical and professional education and training.

“We are supportive of Dr Kelly’s report which highlights the value of ‘short cycle’ qualifications which can and are helping fill the nation’s skills shortages.

“Colleges are already offering 3m students with valuable employability skills, helping to develop their career opportunities and strengthen the local, regional and national economy.”

FE staff will have to wait to hear whether proposed new strike laws will affect them after the government confirmed it was consulting on how a new 40 per cent support threshold would affect certain providers.

Under new rules set out in the government’s trade union bill, 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.

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.

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.

But the FE sector has been left in the dark after the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills told FE Week it was not yet known if colleges which recruited at 14 would be affected.

Peter Pendle (above, left), deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and chief executive of AMiE, the ATL’s leadership section, said the confusion was “another case of the government not fully thinking through legislation”.

He said: “It would be plainly ridiculous if in FE colleges and secondary schools with students younger than 17 years old two different sets of rules applied.

“In many colleges and schools the same employees would be teaching both pre and post-17-year-old students.

“For lecturers, support staff and principals working in colleges which only educate the over 16s, the exemption will be little comfort amongst a raft of measures that are a draconian attack on their rights.

“ATL and AMiE always adopt the approach of debate rather than demand and rarely need to resort to industrial action.  But if we have to take action in an institution we are confident that we will still get the required turn out.”

University and College Union general secretary Sally Hunt (above, centre) said: “The Conservatives have made a considerable effort to portray themselves as the party on the side of working people.

“However, reducing the few rights that workers still retain inside an already tight legal framework on industrial action will do nothing to help working people or their employers.”

Skills Minister Nick Boles (above, right), who also has responsibility for union matters, said: “People have the right to expect that services on which they and their families rely are not going to be disrupted at short notice by strikes that have the support of only a small proportion of union members.

“These are sensible and fair reforms that balance the right to strike with the right of millions of people to go about their daily lives without undue disruption.”

A consultation on the reforms, which will also collect views on how FE providers could be affected, will run until September 9 at gov.uk.

Shadow Education Minister for Young People John Woodcock (pictured above) features among an FE and skills Parliamentary panel that will tonight reflect on “big questions” surrounding the drive for 3m apprenticeship starts.

He will be joined by Ashley McCaul, chief executive at London training provider Skills for Growth, councillor Tom Bewick, managing director at consultancy firm New Work Skills Ltd and chair of Brighton & Hove City Council’s children, young people and skills committee, and Mike Thompson, director of early careers at Barclays Bank.

They will be considering England’s apprenticeship system in light of the government’s target of 3m starts by 2020.

The House of Commons event is hosted by the Young Fabians Education Network (YFEN) and is entitled ‘Beyond 3m: A successful apprenticeships system for the UK’.

A spokesperson for YFEN, the section for under-31-year-olds of the Fabian Society left-wing thinktank, said: “Big questions remain on how we can develop the apprenticeship system we need.

“This event will explore, how do we encourage more businesses to offer more high quality apprenticeships; given how oversubscribed many current apprenticeship schemes are, how do we ensure that apprenticeships offer progression routes into good jobs; and, what can we learn from successful vocational systems overseas.”

The event, he added, will also look at how Labour should respond to recent policy announcements around apprenticeships.

The 90-minute panel is set to run from 6.30pm — follow @FEWeek for live coverage on Twitter with the #Beyond3m hashtag.

The FE Commissioner has warned Redcar and Cleveland College that its “very risky” growth strategy has got just a few months to pay off before its future independence becomes “unlikely”.

Dr David Collins (pictured above left), whose May visit was triggered by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) assessing the grade three-rated college as inadequate for financial health, has already ordered a structure and prospects appraisal (SPA) while it pursues a “strategy around growing income — both funding body and commercial income — supported by an improved Ofsted grade in autumn 2015.”

He warned that without a “dramatic rise in numbers in September” it was “unlikely the college will be able to survive as an independent institution” — and so he would return in October to see if the college needed to be put into administered status.

Acting principal John Chance (pictured above centre) declined to comment on the FE Commissioner’s report, which was published yesterday (Monday).

However, Dr Collins recognised in his report on 3,800-learner Redcar and Cleveland, which was allocated £6.8m from the SFA as of April, that it had “improved the quantity and quality of management reporting in the last nine months” and was “working towards devolving accountability and increasing the understanding of managers and directors”.

But he warned that it “faces a number of very difficult financial challenges over the next few years”.

“The college is pursuing a growth strategy to achieve financial stability which is very risky given recent past performance, demographic decline and the lack of tangible contracts to support commercial growth,” the report said.

It added that the college should not progress “certain recommendations” made by Ofsted, through latest support and challenge arrangements, until the SPA had been completed.

Ofsted had recommended, according to the FE Commissioner’s report, that the college should “confirm and secure senior leadership arrangements immediately” and “confirm over-all strategic direction including collaboration or merger with other institutions” by September.

An Ofsted spokesperson said: “Ofsted has acknowledged the FE Commissioner’s visit and plan for an SPA. There is no conflict.”

Skills Minister Nick Boles said: “Given the severity of the challenges facing the college, I have agreed that the FE Commissioner should undertake an SPA to consider whether there are better arrangements available to meet the needs of learners and employers in a more efficient and effective way.

“I have also agreed that he should review the progress of the college in October to assess whether it remains viable or whether other options, such as administered college status, should be adopted immediately.”

The report came out the same day as an FE commissioner report on Knowsley Community College, in Merseyside, said it should “begin to explore partnership arrangements with neighbouring organisations”.

Dr Collins was sent in three months ago to inspect the college, which received a good Ofsted rating in May 2013 and was allocated £6.4m by the SFA as of April, after it was assessed as inadequate for financial health by the SFA.

His report recognised “many positive aspects in the college’s recent performance” including, for example, good board involvement and clerking, experienced senior managers, and positive teaching and support staff. But it said that the 5,200-learner college faced “a very difficult situation”.

“At a time of falling numbers, government cuts and increased competition, it has a long way to go to match what would be considered to be an average level of efficiency,” it said, adding: “If enrolments in September fall below plan, the college should conduct its own SPA”.

Mr Boles said: “The college is facing falling numbers, reduced levels of funding, increased competition and staff costs which are exceptionally high compared to sector norms. All these factors present significant risks and challenges that the college needs to address quickly and decisively.

“Taking account of this, I would urge the college to begin to explore partnership arrangements with neighbouring organisations to ensure that it delivers a high quality learning offer that meets the needs of learners and employers.”

Knowsley principal Anne Pryer (pictured above right) said: “The commissioner’s visit provided an opportunity for the board and the senior team to review progress against a broad range of issues that we have been dealing with over the past 12 months. The college has significantly improved the quality of apprenticeship delivery and addressed a number of the commissioner’s recommendations.

“We are currently working in partnership with St Helens College to develop a Logistics Academy through the Liverpool City Region local enterprise partnership. The partnership provides both colleges with an opportunity to address a major skills for growth priority for the region.”

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FE Commissioner reports round-up

Dr Collins called for the first-time principal of a Suffolk College to be mentored in her new chief executive role as he praised her “determination and flair” in efforts to deliver a financial turnaround.

He acknowledged the “tireless” work of Jo Pretty, whose interim principal appointment a year ago became permanent in May, had boosted the “case for a college-led recovery” at Lowestoft College after he had been sent in five months ago due to a financial notice of concern issued by the SFA in December.

And his report added: “The interim principal is dealing with a number of complex financial, quality and staffing issues, and given her short experience in some aspects of these roles, professional mentoring and advice should be a key part of the board’s support for the principal in undertaking her chief executive role over the next year.”

Dr Collins criticised “weak” financial management at the 4,000-learner college, allocated around £4.2m by the SFA as of April, over the previous three years in light of three consecutive annual operating deficits.

He added that “well intentioned” governors had acted “precipitously before full consultation with other members of the board and on at least one occasion without full board approval” over key financial and strategic decisions.

He also called for a review of the “strategic decision to buy the Lound campus [situated around five miles from Lowestoft]”.

However, Dr Collins concluded that the “new management team” led by principal Ms Pretty [click here for her expert piece on college efforts to turn the college around], who took over as interim from Simon Summers a year ago, was “inspiring staff to deliver”.

A letter to the college from Skills Funding Agency chief executive Peter Lauener, relating to the commissioner’s findings, said: “The college is beginning to taking the necessary steps to address the issues which have led to the financial and quality difficulties of the college, and I am encouraged to read about the determined approach of the new interim principal.”

Ms Pretty said: “When I found myself in my new role as principal my direction was clear — I had to stabilise a £15m income college while moving it forward in terms of quality.

“The challenges faced at the college were quality, short term liquidity, caused by an over stretch in capital works, poor financial planning and control.”

She added: “The college has undergone substantial restructuring resulting in significant cost savings to date, with around £1.4m of savings to be realised next year, we now have robust control over college expenditure.”

It was one of four FE Commissioner reports released on June 19 covering New College Nottingham, as previously reported by FE Week, Darlington College and Wandsworth Borough Council.

In April Dr Collins was sent to 5,000-learner Darlington College, which was allocated around £6.8m by the SFA as of April, after its Ofsted rating slumped from outstanding six years ago to inadequate across-the-board in March. However, his report acknowledged the college also had “significant financial issues that it needs to address” having lost a key Ministry of Defence contract in 2011/12.

“Its total projected income for 2014/15 is two thirds of what it was in 2011/12,” the report said.

He called for a “full review” of the governing board and recommended student attendance and punctuality should be “more rigorously reinforced”. He also said more “consistent tracking measures” to “monitor student performance” were needed.

Mr Boles praised the “renewed energy Darlington College has taken to identify the necessary improvements following the Ofsted inspection”.

“However, considerable further work is required to restore the college’s position as ‘outstanding’ and to improve the level of efficiency to sector norms,” he said.

Kate Roe, principal of Darlington College, said: “We have already made significant progress with changes and improvements since the FE Commissioner’s visit and many of his specific recommendations in the report are already very much in hand.”

The FE Commissioner’s team in February also inspected Wandsworth Borough Council’s Lifelong Learning Service (WLLL), which was allocated around £3.7m by the SFA as of April, after it fell from a grade two Ofsted rating in April 2010 to inadequate in January, when it had around 3,100 learners.

The commissioner’s report criticised the council’s development plan for the service for having “too great a focus on participation and little on quality or impact”.

It called for a review of the “strategic decision to accelerate apprenticeship growth through sub-contractors operating outside of London”.

A council spokesperson said: “The council has set up a special working group, including representatives from the opposition group, which is conducting a detailed review of the service.”

Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg could be grilled by Lords tomorrow morning on whether the Department for Education (DfE) and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) should merge.

The ex-Lib Dem leader is due before the House of Lords Social Mobility Committee and is expected to face a number of questions covering related issues such as Coalition strategy and how government oversees the skills system.

It comes as part of the committee’s ongoing investigation into the transition between school and work, with committee members having heard from DfE and BIS officials, among others, last week.

The peers, chaired by Lady Corston (pictured right), are looking to find out more about a group of young people they have dubbed “the missing middle” — the 40 to 50 per cent of 16 to 19-year-olds who are not classified as Neet — not in employment, education or training — or following the traditional route of A-levels and university.

Mr Clegg, who had responsibility for social mobility in the last Parliament, is due to be the first witness at the committee’s second hearing, from 11.05am.

A committee spokesperson said: “Questions the committee are likely to put to Mr Clegg include how do you define social mobility, and what factors do you think influence upward social mobility, particularly for school leavers? What consideration was given to the ‘missing middle’ in this strategy?”

She said the committee might also ask which of his government’s social mobility policies were most successful, what he would suggest to improve upwards mobility, and whether the skills system should be brought together into one department, rather than split across the DfE and BIS.

In the following session at 11.50am, the committee will hear from a range of labour market experts, including Professor Andy Green, director of Economic and Social Research Council Centre for Learning and Life Chances in Knowledge Economies and Societies  at the Institute of Education.

Professor Paul Gregg, professor of economic and social policy and director of the Centre for Analysis and Social Policy at the University of Bath is also expected to give evidence along with Professor Ken Roberts, Professor of sociology, social policy and criminology at the University of Liverpool.

The session will be covered live on Twitter by @FEWeek, using the #HLSMC hashtag.

The committee’s third hearing is expected to take place on Wednesday, July 22, but it is not known who the witnesses will be. The committee is due to report its findings by March 23.

The jobs future of staff at the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) and the Centre for Social Inclusion (Inclusion) was today uncertain after it was revealed their “strategic alliance” would turn into full merger.

Niace, based in Leicester and employing 65 people, and Inclusion, based in London and employing 20 people, announced their alliance in February and said at the time that future merger could not be ruled out.

And that merger was announced this morning at the Into Work convention, in London’s Queen Elizabeth II centre. It is hoped the move will create an “even stronger voice promoting citizenship, inclusive economic growth and a stronger and fairer society”.

Current Niace chief executive David Hughes will head up the merged organisation, while Inclusion chief executive David Simmonds will step down, although FE Week understands he plans to remain with the organisation in another role.

Mr Hughes said there “were no plans for any other job losses” in connection with the merger, but he couldn’t rule them out, particularly with the government spending review on the horizon.

He added Niace’s offices in Leicester and Cardiff, and Inclusion’s offices in London were all expected to remain open.

A Niace spokesperson told FE Week said it was unknown what the new organisation’s name would be.

He said: “We’ve got to look at all of these things together, so the next stage is consulting with members, supporters and so on for the next few months. We won’t be able to do anything until after our AGM in November.”

But, he added, the process would be “democratic”.

Mr Hughes said: “Over the next few months we will be engaging our stakeholders, members and supporters to agree our future priorities.

“The outcome will be a new, dynamic organisation which will translate research findings into practical, market-tested policy to help people get the opportunities they need to succeed in work and in life.”

Currently, publicly-funded Niace operates under the guidance of a 14-strong board of governors while Inclusion, a limited company, does not.

And as a limited company, Inclusion will not have to consult quite in the same way, but a spokesperson said: “We are in continuous discussions with Niace — there’s a lot of details to sort out and we’re just at the beginning of that.”

He added that it was hoped the merger process would be completed by January 1.

Mr Hughes said: “Both organisations have contributed greatly across learning, skills and employment policy, research and development.

“Through our strategic alliance it has become clear that we can be an even stronger voice promoting citizenship, inclusive economic growth and a stronger and fairer society.”

Inclusion chief executive Dave Simmonds OBE said: “Our aim is that next year a new organisation will be born that will champion employment, skills and learning for all – especially for the unemployed and those on low incomes.

“Together we will build a new organisation that has a strong policy voice, high standards of research and will be stronger and more sustainable.”

Niace chair Maggie Galliers CBE said the aim was for the new body to “build a reputation as the ‘go to’ think tank with national influence in learning, skills and employment”.

She said: “The Niace board is clear this merger will help secure the long term future for our work, and provide us with a powerful voice on lifelong learning, skills and employment — promoting the vision for a society in which everyone has opportunities to learn and be supported to achieve their ambitions in life, community and work.”

Niace’s AGM will be held on Wednesday, November 4.

The final votes in the contest to lead the Liberal Democrats were being cast today with the prospect of an FE-educated man at the helm proving the bookies’ favourite outcome.

Former House of Commons Education and Skills Select Committee member Tim Farron (pictured main), who revealed in an FE Week profile interview in February that he did his A-levels at Lancashire’s Runshaw College rather than the local grammar school sixth form, is 1/50 on with Paddy Power to succeed Nick Clegg as leader of the Lib Dems.

He is up against Norman Lamb (pictured inset), who went to Norfolk’s former grammar school-turned state boarding school Wymondham College and was given odds of 12/1.

They are the only contenders in the race to replace Mr Clegg, who stepped down following the party’s performance in May’s General Election when it dropped from 56 MPs to just eight.

Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Mr Farron, who was Lib Dem president from 2011 to 2014, served on the select committee for a year from 2005 and has told of his support for the sector saying that viewing vocational education as only for “kids at the lower end of achievement levels” was “an insult to them and it’s an insult to the subject, and it’s an insult to FE actually, and it’s a cop-out”.

Mr Lamb, MP for North Norfolk, served as Health Minister between 2012 and 15, and before that was Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. His biog on the Lib Dem website described him as having “supported the government’s work to create more apprenticeships for young people”.

During a leadership election hustings he said: “I have a record of fighting and winning on liberal values at national level and I think I can deploy that in the party’s interest.”

However, Mr Farron said what the party needed now was his own ability to “be different sound different, be spiky, get attention” to prevent it being ignored.”

The leadership contest result is expected to be announced tomorrow. Odds listed above were correct at time of publication.