• – 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.

 

Ahead of the Association of Colleges (AoC) 2015 conference, chief executive Martin Doel tells FE Week reporter Alix Robertson how his members have a fundamental place in delivering government goals.

With the government spending review on the horizon, and post-16 education and training area reviews sweeping across the country, attendees at this year’s AoC conference may be feeling anxious about the future.

And Martin Doel, chief executive of the AoC, is all too aware of the rocky landscape ahead for colleges.

“With the funding cuts that have occurred, the sector is beginning to show frailties and difficulty, which is inevitable … I think it’s remarkable that the colleges have kept going,” he said in an interview at AoC’s London HQ ahead of its three-day conference from November 17.

“My big worry, of course, as we go into the spending review, is that there will be even further cuts,” he added.

Although funding troubles and the prospect of a visit from the FE Commissioner may be dominating discussions at present, Mr Doel was determined that the AoC conference would be primarily about “colleges, and by inference their students, the communities that they come from and the employers that they support”.

The theme of the conference, at The ICC Birmingham, is Powering the Economy.

“It’s about the essential role that colleges have in building a recovery that’s sustainable and balanced, that everyone can have the opportunity to share in and share the benefits from,” said Mr Doel.

Alongside the speeches at the event, from figures such as Skills Minister Nick Boles, Mr Doel said he hoped the debates on offer would challenge people’s thinking about the role of colleges.

“I will be sharing with members, particularly in some of the sessions, some of the thinking we did immediately after the election, which I think is still valid,” he said.

It involves understanding how colleges will be integral to delivering the government’s key objectives.

“We work back from what we think government’s core and key intentions are, which I’d put down clearly as the statement of 3m apprenticeships and growth — 3m high quality apprenticeships by 2020,” he said.

Alongside meeting this target, other focuses are a delivering a good standard of English and maths for all young people; promoting higher technical and professional education; and filling the technician gap, particularly where large numbers of workers are retiring in key industries.

The conference must address “growing into that space which traditional universities have neglected over a number of years,” said Mr Doel.

The final goal was reaching the long-term unemployed and providing an alternative to continuing on benefits.

“If you look at those four elements of core government policy, my suggestion is you won’t achieve those four policies without a pattern of locally responsive colleges that meet local economic needs,” said Mr Doel.

“That’s why the conference theme is’ Powering the Economy’ — you won’t power the economy if you don’t have a pattern of colleges that provides that pathway into level three, four and five and responds to the local economic community — those are the distinctive things that colleges can do.”

Doel on… area reviews

Are area reviews simply college finance and stability plans?

The motivation towards having area reviews is financial. The cuts that have been sustained so far mean an increasing number of colleges will become financially inadequate. The fact the sector delivered a net deficit … that’s the reason behind area reviews.

Will area reviews succeed in making college finances more stable?

It’s dependent on how well the reviews are carried out, and also it’s one thing carrying out the reviews and another thing to carry through the recommendations. If the government wants colleges to take on new structures, new groupings, and actually to collaborate as well as compete, then that’s a significant transition — and for a group of businesses that don’t have much spare cash around, there ought to be a restructuring or transition fund to assist them. Mergers in the short term cost money. Reshaping your provision, even if you don’t merge, means moving resources, staff, from one place to another, concentrating on facilities here rather than there.

Do you think University Technical Colleges (UTCs) should have been part of the process?

Yes, and especially because they’re aiming to offer technical and professional provision, which is the core role of FE colleges. I can see how involving every school in the country in a review of 16 to 18 education would have made it an exceptionally complicated exercise. That’s not to say though, in some areas, it wouldn’t be very helpful and useful to have schools involved.

Is it right that area reviews are designed within Local Enterprise Partnership (Lep) boundaries?

My recommendation to the department has been to think in smaller groups, which might be sub-Lep areas. I also think the Leps are not a good match for travel-to-learn patterns. I think we need to be much more organic about this, and understand where the viable groupings or the most likely groupings are.

Are the right people chairing area review boards?

I’m hoping that the steering committee in BIS and DfE, who are overseeing the area review areas, are learning as they go. I also don’t think Leps are particularly equipped to lead reviews; therefore I’m very pleased that the FE Commissioner, or the Sixth Form College Commissioner, are chairing and doing work for them, informed by the Leps.

How many colleges might be lost during the area review process and how many might be merged?

You hear stories about 100 colleges disappearing, but history just doesn’t bear that out. We’ve done some recent analysis of colleges, which looks at the period since 1992, and the process by which over 400 colleges reduced down to just over 300 colleges. The greatest number of mergers in any one year in that process was 10 and there was substantial financial support to enable those to take place. Maybe we might do more than 10 mergers in one year, but I find it very hard to see we will do 100 a year. Financially I think it will be closer to 10, and if there is consolidation after the area reviews this will be a three to four-year process, and as likely as full mergers will be situations where colleges collaborate in order to deliver complementary provision across an area.

**Exclusive additional online content

Should more Universal Technical Colleges (UTCs) be appearing, given funding constraints?

I do get frustrated sometimes, when the government thinks the only way to change an education system is to change the institutional landscape, rather than to support existing institutions.

If I were designing an education system from scratch I think I would probably include UTCs, but we haven’t got that luxury – we start from wherever we are. And to try and insert a new set of institutions into the landscape, where there’s no need for them, or there’s a surfeit of good provision already – it just seems to me to be a waste of resources when we don’t have resources to waste.

So I think that in some places, university technical colleges will be a useful addition to the landscape, a major contribution, and in many of those cases, colleges are sponsoring and supporting them. In other places I think they risk being a diversion, so I think we need to learn from the first generation of UTCs to consider where they will work and when they’ll actually contribute to that local economic growth.

What is your message to principals forming ‘strategic alliances’ ahead of area reviews being launched?

I think the colleges are getting ahead of the game to form their own groupings, and I think they are being encouraged to do that. If that’s what they want to do then the AoC would be supporting them to do that and helping them with things like data collection and information in order to make good decisions.

Sharing services is an interesting option, colleges have had a history of doing that, and I think it will deliver some of the savings necessary. However, I think collaborating around the curricular offer is probably where the most powerful savings are likely.

We’re very interested in things like outcome agreements; where a set of colleges agree with the combined authority, or the LEP, what broad outputs from the colleges will be.

I think that conversation between a group of colleges and the LEP, or the combined authority they’re serving, is a really powerful thing to think about – for reinforcing the relevance of the college, the face of the college in its local economic community.

If colleges are really independent, might they just ignore the area review board?

Well, fundamentally, yes. That’s one of the things we argued very strongly for when the area review guidance was being put together, that actually colleges are autonomous bodies. It’s for them, and their incorporated boards, to make the decision on the recommendations.

In doing that, the colleges are going to have to take account of reality, and if they are heading for financial difficulty or require extra support, then clearly they’re most likely to take account of the recommendations. If they are sound financially, their quality is very good, and they are demonstrably meeting local need, then we need to defend their ability to carry on doing that.

Two further mergers have been proposed for the college sector.

Shrewsbury College, Shrewsbury Sixth Form College and New College in Telford have announced plans to discuss a proposal to merge, creating a single sixth form college group.

In a joint statement, the principals of all three — Steve Wain, Martin Ward and Fiona O’Brien, respectively — said: “If a merger goes ahead we are looking at a date from August 1, 2016, and internal and external consultations will commence in early 2016.”

Meanwhile Tower Hamlets College, in East London, is exploring mergers with Redbridge College and also Hackney Community College.

Gerry McDonald, principal of Tower Hamlets, said: “Government policy now clearly supports the creation of larger institutions that are both financially viable and able to adapt to address the country’s skills needs.”

A Tower Hamlets spokesperson said: “It is envisaged that any merger with Redbridge would take place in advance of organisational links between Hackney Community College and Tower Hamlets College.”

He added that the Redbridge merger, if agreed, would be formally completed by August.

It comes with the post-16 education area reviews expected to result in a number of mergers.

Such moves are already on the cards for New College Nottingham and Central College Nottingham, and Greenwich Community College and Bromley College of Further and Higher Education to name but two.

Main image: Martin Ward, Fiona O’Brien and Steve Wain

These are some of the faces in Sixth Form College Commissioner Peter Mucklow’s new team as he shares the growing workload of post-16 area reviews.

They include an academy trust chief executive, a former sixth form college umbrella organisation executive director, an ex-Ofsted inspector and, of course, some old sixth form college principals.

The six new advisers were appointed by the Department for Education on two-year contracts paying up to £600 a-day.

An Education Funding Agency spokesperson said: “The team of six will support Mr Mucklow with both the early and formal intervention process to tackle poor performance, either in terms of financial management or quality. They will also support the series of area-based reviews of provision.”

The posts were advertised in September in a joint recruitment drive with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which was looking for deputies at £700 a-day, and advisers, at £600 a-day, for FE Commissioner Dr David Collins.

The application process for all posts ended on September 30, but a BIS spokesperson said it had not made any appointments to Dr Collins team of 11 advisers yet.

Both commissioners have chair roles in area reviews and so far seven have been announced for 83 general FE colleges and sixth form colleges across seven regions.

More reviews are expected to be announced soon and Mr Mucklow will be able to call on the help of Neil Hopkins (main image, left), Felicity Greeves (main image centre), Daphne King (main image right), Josephine Nowacki, along with John Boyle and Mike Southworth, whose appointments in August were previously reported by FE Week.

Mr Hopkins, a governor at Sparsholt College, was principal of Peter Symonds College for 20 years until 2013. He was then executive director of the Maple Group of sixth form colleges from 2013 to 2015.

Ms Greeves is chief executive of the Fylde Coast Academy Trust and the Fylde Coast Teaching School. She was previously principal of Blackpool Sixth Form College from 2004 to 2014.

Ms King is the former principal of East Norfolk Sixth Form College from 2012 to August 2015. She is a trustee for the Diocese of Norwich Education and Academies Trust.

And former Ofsted FE and skills inspector Ms Nowacki completes the new appointments. She worked for the education watchdog from 2003 until 2015.

She was a senior inspector for North East, Yorkshire and the Humber in her last two years at Ofsted.

James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association, said: “We welcome the appointment of the new sixth form college advisers. All are highly regarded individuals with significant experience in the sixth form college sector.

“Although we have major concerns about the rushed implementation of the ill-conceived area review policy, we hope these advisers will help to ensure the distinct identity and ethos of sixth form colleges is not lost through the process.”

Mark Bramwell, associate director of sixth form colleges at the Association of Colleges, said: “We welcome these additional commissioners as they all have recent and extensive experience of the work of sixth form colleges.

“We are pleased to see the distinctive interests of sixth form colleges being reflected in the make-up of the area review teams.”

More than 100 college governors’ board chairs put on a united front to Prime Minister David Cameron in a desperate bid to defend FE funding from Chancellor George Osborne and the impending Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR).

They wrote to Mr Cameron outlining the sector’s “parlous financial state that has been caused by the impact of an accumulation of funding changes that have uniquely hit colleges”.

The letter outlined the effect of cuts this year of 24 per cent and then a further 3.9 per cent, along with the 17.5 per cent reduction in funding for full-time 18-year-olds, among other issues affecting colleges.

It was signed by 127 chairs of colleges across the country and comes ahead of the CSR, which is expected on November 25.

It said in the letter: “The National Audit Office study into the sector expressed concern about its financial health, and the Education Secretary has also said the sector is financially “fragile”. Professor Alison Wolf, in her most recent research paper, commented that the sector was heading for the precipice in financial terms.”

It added: “There is a real fear that further funding cuts in the next CSR round will indeed tip us “over the precipice”. Moreover, there is an even greater fear that this could happen by accident or a lack of detailed understanding of the impact of recent decisions.

“The CSR offers an opportunity to ensure colleges can help government deliver what it aims to achieve.”

The chairs went on to issue five requests of Mr Cameron. They said they wanted “no further reduction in the quantum of adult funding” and “consistent and equitable funding for all 16 to 18-year-olds at college”.

They also said they wanted “more certainty and predictability of funding over a reasonable period of time, ideally three years” and a “re-examination of the current thinking relating to post 16 provision” along with all current and proposed post 16 providers to be included in post-16 education area reviews.

The final request was for “recognition that effective delivery of the maths and English agenda requires new and adequate resources, sufficient funding and long-term support to help recruit qualified specialist staff”.

The letter, dated October 31, concluded: “Colleges have a vital role in helping your government achieve its ambitions with regard to social cohesion, social mobility and economic success.

We are unique and responsive institutions that share these same ambitions and care deeply about our communities.

“We hope this letter clearly explains our fears and frustrations that we cannot do this as effectively as we would like and hope you will consider our concerns and our proposals which we believe will better deliver your government’s agenda.”

The Association of Colleges said it supported the letter.

Number 10 declined to comment, but confirmed the letter had been received and said that a response would be given in due course.