Sector leaders have warned that the government’s post-16 education and training area review plans are “fundamentally flawed” because they concentrate too much on general FE and sixth form colleges (SFCs).

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Department for Education (DfE) unveiled plans this morning for reviews for Birmingham and Solihull, Greater Manchester, and Sheffield city region to start on September 18, 21 and 28 respectively.

A joint statement identified 22 FE colleges and 16 SFCs that will be directly involved — but no schools, University Technical Colleges, free schools, or independent learning providers (ILPs).

James Kewin (pictured above), deputy chief executive of the SFC’s Association, said the process was “fundamentally flawed because it only focuses on FE colleges and SFCs” and criticised a lack of “coherent or joined up policy making”.

Association of Colleges chief executive Martin Doel (pictured below right) agreed that all post-16 provision should be considered, adding that it would be “unreasonable and illogical for the government to allow more new sixth forms and other post-16 education to be created during the course of the reviews”.

A BIS and DfE spokesperson subsequently told FE Week that the government was separately “reviewing the criteria for the opening of new school sixth forms, because of the risk of oversupply in various local areas”.

He added that while the post-16 area reviews “will normally involve all the general FE colleges and SFCs in the area”, other providers “may opt in if the local steering group agrees”.

“In particular we would expect that any providers delivering significant levels of post-16 education and training in the area will want to opt in,” he said.

He added that post-16 area review reports could make general observations about opportunities for collaboration, improved progression and signposting, and efficiency savings “across all providers”.

BIS and DfE wanted school sixth forms to collaborate with the reviews, he said.“Similar provision in [school] sixth forms is often duplicated in relatively small geographical areas when it could be delivered in a more joined-up way,” he added.

“This may be particularly the case where sixth forms are very small, as some evidence raises concerns about the costs, breadth of offer and outcomes for these providers.”

A guidance note for the upcoming post-16 area reviews, published this morning by DfE and BIS, said that they will focus on the current structure of FE colleges and SFCs, although there will be opportunities for other institutions including schools and independent providers to “opt in”.

It added that the reviews will be led by steering groups consisting of college chairs of governors, local enterprise partnerships, local authorities, regional schools commissioners, SFC Commissioner Peter Mucklow and FE Commissioner Dr David Collins.Regional school commissioners will also “consider the implications” for school sixth form provision, the note said.

An Association of Employment and Learning Providers spokesperson said that such reviews could present opportunities for greater co-operation with ILPs, “especially if those involved are willing to be open minded and look at alternatives to the obvious college merger solutions, the evidence for the success of which is ambivalent at best”.

But Sally Hunt (pictured left), University and College Union general secretary, said that “this programme of rationalisation risks leaving students high and dry if their own aspirations don’t match the local area’s priorities”.

The impact on post-16 funding of plans to allow summer-born children to enter reception after their fifth birthday will be examined before changes are made, the government has confirmed.

A Department for Education spokesperson told FE Week that issues around post-16 funding would form part of the consultation on proposals to change the admissions code to accommodate summer-born children starting school later than others in their age cohort.

Education Minister Nick Gibb (pictured)confirmed on Tuesday (September 8) that the government intended to change the code, which currently allows summer-born children to be held back from starting school after their fifth birthday if they skip reception and go straight into Year One.

Under the proposed changes, children born between April and August could be starting school as late as the age of five years and five months and leaving after their 19th birthday, and questions have subsequently been raised about post-16 funding.

Under current rules, Department for Education funding only covers young people up to the age of 18, after which they are funded at a level 17.5 per cent lower than for 16 and 17-year-olds. Meanwhile, post-19 education funding comes from the unprotected budget of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and is determined by different methodology.

An Association of Colleges spokesperson said allowing summer-born children to start school later wouldn’t have a “direct effect on colleges” for 10 years, but added that it was a “rational response to evidence that shows achievement gaps depending on when children are born”.

She added: “The same research shows that these month-of-birth achievement gaps diminish over the age of 16, perhaps because, up to now, the education system has been less obsessed about fitting everyone into age slots.

“The 17.5 per cent cut for 18-year-old funding and the further cuts once people reach 19 mean this is no longer the case and are eliminating second chances whichever month you are born.”

Announcing the changes, Mr Gibb said they were part of his government’s “plan to extend social justice and opportunity”, adding: “We want all children to have an equal chance to excel in school regardless of when they are born”.

He said: “Parents know their children best and we want to make sure summer-born children can start reception at the age of give, if their parents think it is in their best interests.

“We are going to make changes to admission rules  but we want councils and academies to take immediate action.”

Following the consultation, details of which are yet to be announced, the changes will need Parliamentary approval.

The FE Choices website is to shut next month after three-and-a-half years, it was revealed by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) this afternoon.

The website, which was previously known as the Framework for Excellence and which allows the public to compare the performance of providers, is set to close at the end of October.

An SFA spokesperson said the move comes as part of the wider programme to move all government websites to GOV.UK.

An FE Week exclusive (see right) six months after the website launched in January 2012 revealed 6,230 people had viewed it.

The figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, further showed that the website had been visited by 1,246 ‘unique’ visitors on average each month.

The request, submitted by FE Week, also revealed that the FE Choices website had cost the taxpayer more than £2.3m up to that point.

The website itself had cost £630,000 to build, with the remaining £1.7m spent on the gathering and production of data.

The figures worked out as a cost to the taxpayer of £375 per visitor and the coverage was picked up by Private Eye, which questioned whether FE Choices “may be one of the most expensively pointless government websites yet“.

However, while the website is closing, the SFA spokesperson said it would “continue to make all FE Choices data available on GOV.UK and DATA.GOV.UK, with performance indicators held on the National Careers Service website.”

“Our last update to the website was on Thursday, September 3, when we published the 2014 to 2015 learner satisfaction data,” they said.

“FE Choices satisfaction surveys will continue to run as normal, with the next survey opening on Monday, November 2.”

Government apprenticeship reform adviser and former BBC Dragons’ Den investor Doug Richard has been charged with sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) told FE Week today that there is “sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest” for Richard to be charged.

The 57-year-old multimillionaire, whose 2012 Richard Review of Apprenticeships triggered ongoing reform proposals, faces three counts of sexual activity with a child and one count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Caroline Hughes, CPS London reviewing lawyer, said: “We have carefully considered the evidence gathered by City of London Police in relation to [Doug] Richard, who was arrested on January 5 this year.”

She added: “The alleged offences occurred on January 2, 2015, and relate to one victim aged 13 at the time.

“The decision to prosecute has been taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors. Mr Richard is now charged with criminal offences and has the right to a fair trial.”

Richard is due to appear before City of London Magistrates’ Court on October 5, she added.

FE Week reported on January 19 that Mr Richard had been arrested in connection with the alleged attack on an underage girl. At the time, he said: “I absolutely deny the allegations made about me. It would be inappropriate to comment further given that the police are at a very early stage of their investigation.”

The US-born entrepreneur, who denied the accusations, was quizzed at the time by detectives from City of London Police before being released on bail.

He moved to the UK in 2001, after making his fortune buying and selling software companies in California.

The Richard Review of Apprenticeships, which recommended giving employers control over apprenticeship funding, has continued to impact on the FE sector since its publication in 2012.

As well as apprenticeships, he worked closely with the government as a member of the Small Business Task Force, which advised Chancellor George Osborne and Prime Minister David Cameron.

Twenty two general FE colleges will be involved in the first round of post-16 education and training area reviews announced by the government this morning.

The future of a further 16 sixth form colleges (SFCs) will also be assessed as part of the reviews taking place in Birmingham and Solihull, Greater Manchester, and Sheffield city region.

It comes as the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Department for Education (DfE) also finally published its guidance on the review process for post-16 education and training institutions. A version of the guidance had already been leaked to FE Week.

Each review will start with an assessment of the economic and educational needs of the area, and the implications for post-16 education and training provision, also including school sixth forms and independent learning providers (ILPs).

A BIS and DfE spokesperson said: “The reviews will focus on the current structure of FE colleges and SFCs, although there will be opportunities for other institutions [including schools and independent providers] to opt in to this stage of the analysis.”

The reviews will be led by steering groups consisting of college chairs of governors, local enterprise partnerships, local authorities, regional schools commissioners, SFC Commissioner Peter Mucklow and FE Commissioner Dr David Collins.

Dr Collins will chair the Birmingham and Solihull, and Sheffield City Region local steering groups, which will meet for the first time on September 18 and 28 respectively.

The Greater Manchester local steering group, which will be chaired by chief executive of Trafford City Council Theresa Grant, will meet for the first time on September 21.

The BIS and DfE spokesperson said that the collective approach was “designed achieve a transition towards fewer, larger, more resilient and efficient providers, and more effective collaboration across institution types.

“A critical aspect will be to create greater specialisation, with the establishment of institutions that are genuine centres of expertise, able to support sustained progression in professional and technical disciplines, alongside excellence in other fundamental areas — such as English and maths.”

It comes after five FE and sixth form colleges facing “significant financial challenges” announced on July 21 that they are “actively considering” collaboration plans, following a review of post-16 provision in North East Norfolk and North Suffolk.

It was overseen by Dr Collins and Mr Mucklow during the first five months of this year.

It came a day after BIS announced plans, in its report Reviewing post-16 education and training institutions, for a “programme of area-based reviews to review 16+ provision in every area” of the country.

The North East Norfolk and North Suffolk review and another for Nottingham, which FE Week revealed had been launched on May 1, were pilots for this.

The colleges involved in the reviews are yet to comment.

Area review details

Birmingham and Solihull
FE colleges
Birmingham Metropolitan College, Bournville College, Solihull College & South and City College Birmingham

Sixth form colleges
Cadbury Sixth Form College, Joseph Chamberlain College & The Sixth Form College Solihull

First meeting of the local steering group: Friday, September 18
Chair of the local steering group: Dr David Collins, FE Commissioner
Area review team lead: Lynne Tabone

Greater Manchester
FE colleges
Bolton College, Bury College, Hopwood Hall College, Salford City College, Stockport College, Tameside College, The Manchester College, The Oldham College, Trafford College & Wigan and Leigh College

Sixth form colleges
Aquinas College, Ashton-Under-Lyne Sixth Form College, Cheadle and Marple Sixth Form College, Holy Cross College, Xaverian College, Loreto College, Oldham Sixth Form College, St John Rigby RC Sixth Form College, Rochdale Sixth Form College, Winstanley Sixth Form College & Bolton Sixth Form College

First meeting of the local steering group: Monday, September 21
Chair of the local steering group: Theresa Grant, chief executive of Trafford City Council
Area review team lead: John Barber

Sheffield City Region
FE colleges
Barnsley College, Chesterfield College, Dearne Valley College, Doncaster College, North Nottinghamshire College, Rotherham College, Northern College & Sheffield College

Sixth form colleges
Thomas Rotherham College & Longley Park

First meeting of the local steering group: Monday, September 28
Chair of the local steering group: Dr David Collins, FE Commissioner
Area review team lead: John Barber

The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) has called for a new fund to help improve the quality and access to apprenticeships.

The proposal was part of its submission, lodged with partner organisation the Centre for Social Inclusion (Inclusion), to a consultation which closed on Friday (September 4) on the government’s 2015 spending review.

A Niace spokesperson said that the new fund should be “ring-fenced from funding raised through the [proposed] apprenticeship levy” for large employers.

It would be invested in “widening access to apprenticeships from underrepresented groups and fund employer-led quality initiatives to enhance outcomes for apprentices and businesses”, the spokesperson added.

The submission also proposed a single funding agency for all post-19 loans, merging the Skills Funding Agency and Higher Education Funding Council for England.

The spokesperson said that this would “maximise the investment that goes to the frontline and improve parity of esteem between academic and vocational routes”.

Niace and Inclusion also called, in the submission, for personal career accounts, which individuals could access throughout their careers as they need to develop skills or retrain.

The submission also requested a “new radical vision” for community learning.

It would, the spokesperson said, maximise “ability to support the breadth of government policy, including employment and skills, mental and public health, stronger families, digital engagement, social mobility, inclusive communities, healthy ageing and strengthening civil society”.

It also called for a “radical refocusing” of employment support for disabled people to “help halve the disability employment gap”.

David Hughes, chief executive at Niace, said that the government should use this spending review to “make an important commitment to prioritise investment in learning, skills and employment”.

“This is critical to nurturing our economy, helping to strengthen productivity and ensuring that economic growth is inclusive,” he added.

“If the government wants to fulfil its own ambitions and aspirations for a more productive Britain, halving the disability unemployment gap and creating 3m apprenticeships, then it must ensure that adults of all ages have opportunities to learn and to get on in work and in life.”

He said that “far too many people” were currently missing out on training opportunities, which “not only threatens their own life chances, but damages the prospects for increased workforce productivity, and for sustained economic growth”.

Niace, based in Leicester, and Inclusion, based in London, announced that they were forming an “alliance” in February and said at the time that future merger could not be ruled out.

And that merger was announced in July, which a spokesperson said at the time would create an “even stronger voice promoting citizenship, inclusive economic growth and a stronger and fairer society”.

With former government FE and skills boss Dr Sue Pember now installed at the helm of adult and community learning provider membership body Holex, reporter Freddie Whittaker examines the sector’s Ofsted inspection performance last academic year.

It’s the beginning of a new era for adult and community learning providers and their representative body, Holex.

FE sector stalwart Dr Sue Pember, the former head of FE and skills investment at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, is the new Holex director of policy and external relations. But just how big a task is former Canterbury College principal Dr Pember facing?

Data released by Ofsted shows a mixed picture for community learning and skills providers.

Of the 233 community learning and skills providers in England, 54 were inspected in the last academic year. Of these, 19 saw their Ofsted rating decline since their last inspection, while 18 stayed the same and 13 improved. Of those which saw a decline in their grades, 8 saw their Ofsted ratings fall by two grades, while the other 11 dropped by one.

Of those to have improved, all 13 are up one point each, and of the four providers which were inspected for the first time in 2014/15, three have been told they require improvement.

In total, of those inspected last year, two were outstanding, 28 were good, 17 required improvement and seven were inadequate.

Adult and community learning providers have also not been immune from intervention by FE commissioner Dr David Collins, who has reported on provision run by councils in Norfolk, Lancashire, Warrington and the London Borough of Wandsworth.

But Dr Pember was unsurprisingly keen to sing the praises of the providers she represents, and said those which had seen their Ofsted ratings decline would be working to improve.

She told FE Week: “Adult and Community Learning providers have an excellent quality record, with sector best for overall effectiveness‎grades. Nearly as many went up a grade as went down and those who went down are now ensuring the highlighted development areas are being worked upon.”