Government adviser Nigel Whitehead warned that the Trailblazer apprenticeship process was “out of control” as he revealed fears national occupational standards (NOS) were in “danger” of being bypassed.

The group managing director of programmes and support at BAE, and author of the government-commissioned 2013 Review of Adult Vocational Qualifications in England, said the system had been set up “without much reference back to the importance of the NOS as a foundation”.

“My honest appraisal is that I think it is out of control,” Mr Whitehead told more than 150 awarding organisations at the Ofqual 2015 conference in Birmingham on Tuesday (December 8).

He added: “There is a danger there is a moment in time when we will accidentally bypass the NOS unless we take the care to recognise their importance.”

The UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), which counts Mr Whitehead as one of its commissioners, is responsible for NOS across the UK.

However, the UKCES was “struggling to get that voice properly heard” when the new apprenticeship standards were being drawn up by Trailblazer employer groups, said Mr Whitehead, and with its funding set to cease, “that danger moment is amplified”.

It’s an issue he said he had even raised with Skills Minister Nick Boles — “and he acknowledges that we have some work to do to work out how that function is going to be performed,” said Mr Whitehead.

The comments appear to have put Mr Whitehead on collision course with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which said research carried out by the UKCES itself showed only 5 per cent of employers had a good knowledge of NOS, while 44 per cent of the economy was not even covered by NOS.

“Employers are free to refer to national occupational standards to support the development of their Trailblazer apprenticeships — most have chosen to do something different,” said a BIS spokesperson.

But a UKCES spokesperson said: “We believe NOS are vitally important and, as Mr Whitehead said, they are the raw material on which high quality apprenticeships and many vocational qualifications are based.”

Mr Whitehead’s employers at BAE, which is on a number of Trailblazer groups, also backed him, saying they “recognise the value of NOS and their role in ensuring apprenticeships in our sector meet their requirements”.

“We believe they are an essential starting point on which high quality apprenticeships and many vocational qualifications should be based,” said a BAE spokesperson.

According to the UKCES, NOS are developed “for employers by employers through the relevant Sector Skills Council or Standards Setting Organisation” and are “statements of the standards of performance individuals must achieve when carrying out functions in the workplace, together with specifications of the underpinning knowledge and understanding”.

However, with UKCES funding set to end, question marks also hang over the devolved nations’ use of NOS.

“They are waiting with baited breath to see if they have to build their own foundation or whether they can rely on the English system to actually then continue to provide a foundation,” said Mr Whitehead.

A Scottish government spokesperson said it had “a commitment from Mr Boles to work with the devolved nations on this”.

But, she said: “We are disappointed with the UK government decision to stop funding the UKCES, as this will have implications in a number of areas such as the NOS which are used widely across all four nations of the UK to underpin vocational education.”

She added: “Unfortunately this is another example of where another UK government decision is having unintended consequences for skills activities across the UK.”

A Northern Ireland government spokesperson said it was working “to ensure NOS remain the national standards.”

The Welsh government was yet to respond.

Main image: @sideclickphoto

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Editor’s comment

Out of control, again

The government saw fit to listen to Mr Whitehead on qualifications nearly three years ago.

His recommendations resulted in the public funding of, it has been estimated, around 6,900 adult vocational qualifications severed.

He is clearly someone that is listened to among ministers and at Whitehall.

So his warning that the Trailblazer process was ‘out of control’ will hopefully also be listened to.

He, along with the UKCES, makes a case for national occupational standards (NOS) that Trailblazer employers, no less than BIS, should take great care to heed.

But it’s a warning that also came with worries for devolved governments who rely upon the UKCES for their own NOS in developing apprenticeships.

And perhaps one of the most damning criticisms of this particular issue, and also the breakneck speed of reforms, comes from North of Border about the ‘unintended consequence’ of policy shift after policy shift.

It just adds to that out of control feel that the FE and skills sector has sadly become accustomed to nowadays.

chris.henwood@feweek.co.uk

The University and College Union (UCU) and NCG (formerly Newcastle College Group) have signed a “partnership agreement” they hope will ease future negotiations over staff pay and conditions and consign previous bitter disputes to history.

Chief executive of NCG Joe Docherty (pictured above left) and UCU regional official Iain Owens (pictured above right) signed the agreement on Friday at NCG’s Rye Hill House, in Newcastle.

The partnership, which was officially confirmed by NCG and UCU this week, is the culmination of efforts to improve relations on both sides after a series of clashes.

An NCG spokesperson said  the new partnership would “see NCG and UCU work together to negotiate, consult and discuss on all matters relating to terms and conditions of employment and related staffing issues”.

She said “both parties have worked hard to improve relations over the past few years” and UCU had been involved in “several key projects, including the development of NCG’s purpose, strategy and organisation values”.

“There is also a joint commitment to organisational success, the sharing of information, openness and transparency, and improving the quality of working life,” she added.

It comes after the UCU was highly critical of pay rises given to former NCG chief executive Dame Jackie Fisher, who earned £215k in 2011/12 and £225k in 2012/13 — putting the college second in the list of highest paying colleges, as reported in FE Week in April last year.

Dame Jackie had previously been accused by UCU of “de-Geordification” in July 2011, after it claimed staff had been told to stop using Newcastle in communications and only refer to NCG.

It came after UCU staff members at Newcastle College went on strike in April 2011, over what the union claimed at the time were plans to make more than 170 staff redundant.

An NCG spokesperson said the eventual number of staff made redundant following the strike was “less than 80”.

Nevertheless, Mr Owens said he looked forward to a more co-operative future.

“We are committed to the shared goal of working together constructively for the benefit of all employees of NCG,” he said.

“We are pleased by the organisation’s commitment to openness and transparency, respectfulness and collaboration, and believe they are the values needed to underpin a successful working relationship.”

Mr Docherty, who replaced Dame Jackie in June 2013, said: “Strong, trusting relationships between employers and employees are a common feature of outstanding organisations, and we see a constructive and respectful relationship with UCU helping us towards our goal to become a great place to work.

“We have worked hard to forge stronger, closer working relationships with UCU and other trade unions.

“This agreement sets out the respect we have for each other’s roles and responsibilities and the collaborative approach that we have taken in shaping the future of NCG for staff and customers. There will no doubt be times when we agree to disagree.

“However, we will always aspire to be open, honest and transparent and commit to work with, and learn from, each other in a positive and constructive manner for the benefit of all concerned.”

Ofqual boss Glenys Stacey has warned awarding organisations (AOs) that the qualifications watchdog is clamping down on “rogue” non-compliance — and is currently looking at 40 cases where action could be taken.

In a speech at the Ofqual 2015 conference in Birmingham today, the chief regulator told an audience including representatives from 155 of the 160 AOs it regulates that it was now “better geared up to identify non-compliance”.

Ms Stacey said: “It is fair to say we have tightened up our regulatory approach over the past year – we have renovated our own house so it is in good order. We are now a more targeted regulator that has made big investments in its standards, compliance and legal teams.”

She added: “We are better geared up to identify non-compliance and better prepared to take firm, proportionate action. Our regulations set minimum standards that are applicable to all… if we find evidence of non-compliance we will take action where it would be proportionate for us to do so.

“We want you to be confident to invest in your products, in research and development, by knowing that we will take action against your competitors where we find problems.

“And we are taking action where we need to. Where we have looked so far this year we have found problems in a number of areas. We are currently following up 40 cases of non-compliance stemming from our annual Statement of Compliance process — and let me be clear, we have identified, are concerned about, and are following up, awarding organisations which have claimed compliance but where we have evidence that such a claim is wrong.”

Seminars with Ofqual standards, compliance and legal teams also took place on audit, risk and enforcement issues as officials pushed their ‘get tough’ message.

The conference also included panel discussions, with members including Ofqual chair Amanda Spielman; Nigel Whitehead CBE, group managing director of programmes and support, BAE Systems and Commissioner at the UK Commission for Employment and Skills; and, John Widdowson CBE, Association of Colleges president and New College Durham principal.

Also on the panels were Professor David Green, vice chancellor and chief executive, University of Worcester; Dr Fiona Aldridge, assistant director for development and research, National Institute of Adult Continuing Education; and, Nick Linford, director, Lsect and former editor of FE Week. They heard Ms Stacey outline how poor centre controls among AOs were proving a key concern.

“Internal assessment is of course a valid assessment approach, particularly where qualifications need to assess practical skills,” said Ms Stacey.

“However, in a number of audits, where we have looked for evidence of compliance with our requirements for effective centre controls, we have found non-compliance, again and again, in different AOs.

“And we are and we will continue to refer those non-compliances to our enforcement team. It is critical that those who rely on qualifications can have confidence in the way assessment is delivered — that they can rely on the outcomes of assessment no matter where or when it takes place.”

She also spoke about the results of Ofqual’s Spring Audits report, out this month. The report said: “In most cases, the evidence we collected indicated that the AOs had in place approaches that could secure compliance with our requirements.”

But Ms Stacey told delegates that Ofqual’s work on standards went further than the AOs it already regulated.

“We are not just looking at what is inside the regulated market, of course — we also control entry to it and manage exit from it,” she said.

“And some awarding organisations have surrendered recognition — for others we have withdrawn it. There are 23 fewer awarding organisations recognised today than there were four years ago.

“We are quite comfortable with this. We are not here to defend you, to do your job or to whitewash over any cracks that we find. Our responsibility is to those who rely on your qualifications.”

She added: “While we typically receive around 50 applications for recognition each year, only two or three typically make the grade.

“We are unapologetic about protecting the regulated market and maintaining high standards. None of you wishes to be tarnished or suffer from the actions of a few ‘rogue builders’.”

The issue of little or no use of qualifications was also raised by Ms Stacey as she told delegates: “If your qualifications are as valid as they can be, if they are well-designed around the skills and knowledge they need to assess, you will best-placed to meet … new opportunities.

“Central to that has been our removal of the QCF rules at the end of September this year. The evidence is that in some cases these rules were proving a hindrance to meeting users’ needs.”

She added: “Review your portfolio of qualifications and clear away those products which are either not demanded any more or do not function. Depreciation is a fact of life. Qualifications fall out of use just as buildings or technology depreciate.”

Skills Minister Nick Boles has placed Amersham and Wycombe College into administered status after being warned of its “declining turnover and worsening bottom line since 2007/08”.

Two advisers from FE Commissioner Dr David Collins’s office visited the 3,500-learner college in September and reported back a series of problems including falling student numbers as well as “pressures on its main funding streams, weak leadership and management and poor financial management”.

They also found that “operating deficits up to and including 2018/19” were expected by the college, which has a current Skills Funding Agency (SFA) allocation of just under £3.5m, and that its recovery plan therefore did not “present a picture of a stand-alone viable institution”.

Mr Boles’s letter to college corporation chair Jenese Joseph, dated October 16, plus the FE Commissioner’s report, was published today along with the results of an inspection of North Shropshire College triggered by its application for “exceptional financial support”.

Mr Boles told Ms Joseph: “The FE Commissioner’s key finding is that while the college has a recovery plan covering both financial and quality issues, this is not sufficiently robust and the targets set are not sufficiently focused to bring about improvement in a timely manner.

“In addition, relationships between the interim executive team and the governing body are not strong. The FE Commissioner has thus recommended that the college should not be left to manage its own future and should be placed into administered status.”

He added: “I have carefully considered the FE Commissioner’s assessment, and accept all the recommendations he makes. I am therefore placing Amersham and Wycombe College into administered college status with immediate effect.”

Interim principal Felix Adenaike (pictured main image above, inset right), appointed in March, said the college was “working actively with the funding agencies and the FE Commissioner to secure the improvements we need in the quality of our provision and finances; and the structural change that will lead to a stronger local provision for our stakeholders”.

“The governors and staff of the college are very much focussed on achieving these aims,” he added.

The commissioner’s advisers were sent out to the college, listed in the Thames Valley post-16 education area review, by Mr Boles in light of its 2013 SFA notice of concern for financial health and also a string of grade three (satisfactory/requires improvement) Ofsted inspection results.

The commissioner’s subsequent report states that the “SFA has recently indicated that it has additional concerns over the college’s financial control”. Dr Collins also reported that the college did not have a full strategic plan and that “no dashboards or key performance indicators” were regularly presented to the board.

He added: “Budget control has clearly not been adequate in the past. The interim financial controller expressed an opinion that there had not been an appropriate level of understanding of budgetary matters. The internal auditors could give no assurance in their annual report and rated this ‘red’.”

Mr Adenaike said: “Immediately after the review of the college by the FE Commissioner in September we developed a plan that will bring about timely and successful implementation of his recommendations.

“Our main priority is to ensure the local area and the communities we serve have access to a high quality and sustainable FE provision that will contribute significantly to their social and economic development.”

North Shropshire College meanwhile, was granted its request for “exceptional” funding, which is yet to be paid but the amount was not disclosed by the college, and was visited by Dr Collins along with two of his advisers between September 7 and 11.

Dr Collins reported that the 3,000-learner college, deemed by Ofsted to require improvement at last inspection in October last year, “has experienced a decline in its financial health over the last four years moving from a financial health grade of ‘good’ in 2011/12 to ‘inadequate’ by 2013/14.”

He added: “There have been two consecutive years of operating deficits as per the audited financial statements, with a further operating deficit in 2014/15 as shown in the draft unaudited accounts.”

Dr Collins also pointed out how the lack of a curriculum plan at the college, which has a current SFA allocation of just over £2.5m and was listed in The Marches and Worcestershire post-16 education area review, contributed to a “lack of control over staff hours and … small average group sizes”.

He also said there had been a “lack of capacity and capability at senior level,” but said staff supported the vision of principal Jackie Doodson, appointed in June last year, to turn the college around.

In his letter to corporation chair Gillian Richards, dated October 14, Mr Boles said the “principal and the other members of the senior management team are working hard to deal with some very difficult financial problems”.

Mr Boles added: “The FE Commissioner’s principle recommendations are thus that the board should continue to explore alternative options for its future and should actively participate in the Shropshire Area Review when it is announced.”

Ms Doodson said the college accepted the commissioner’s findings.

“Since the commissioner’s visit we have made good progress in improving our quality outcomes and we have achieved significant growth in apprenticeships and level four students, while maintaining a good position on 16 to 18 learner numbers,” she said.

“We are pleased to say that we have already progressed the recommendations within the report.”

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesperson said: “We would not disclose any details on exceptional financial support as this is commercially sensitive to a college and not for disclosure.”

Main image above: Mr Adenaike LinkedIn

The Committee on Education, Skills and the Economy has today launched an inquiry into careers advice, information and guidance.

It will look at issues such as the quality of current careers advice, the effectiveness of careers advice in supporting people into apprenticeships, and how careers advice in schools and college can help match skills with the needs of the jobs market.

The committee, created from sub-committees of the Education and the Business, Innovation and Skills committees, will also be holding a separate evidence session in the New Year with Skills Minister, Nick Boles.

Mr Boles will be questioned about his role and the effectiveness of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Education (DfE) in working together to increase productivity and economic performance.

Neil Carmichael, MP for Stroud and chair of the Education Select Committee (pictured above right), said: “Good quality careers advice is exceptionally important but current provision often seems patchy and complex, falling short in providing young people with comprehensive advice about the range of career opportunities available.

“While routes to university may be well mapped out, alternatives such as apprenticeships and vocational qualifications are largely ignored.”

Iain Wright, MP for Hartlepool and chair of the Business Innovation and Skills Select Committee (pictured above left), said: “Ensuring young people have access to good quality careers information, advice and guidance is crucial to social mobility.

“Whitehall has too much of a silo-mentality … We want to show the Government that working across policy areas and across parties is possible and, as a committee, we want to help ensure young people have the skills they need to achieve fulfilling careers and boost the country’s productivity.”

The inquiry will focus in particular on developments since the publication of the Education Committee report Careers guidance for young people: The impact of the new duty on schools, in 2013.

The Committee is inviting submissions on a range of points, including the quality and impartiality of current provision and how careers advice in schools and colleges can help to match skills with labour market needs.

Other topics include the balance between national and local approaches to careers advice, careers advice and apprenticeships, and the potential for employers to play a greater role in careers advice.

The role of the new Careers and Enterprise Company and its relationship with other bodies such as the National Careers Service will also be considered.

The deadline for written evidence is noon on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 and written submissions should be sent via the Committee website here:  http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-skills-and-economy/inquiries/parliament-2015/careers-advice-15-16/

In December 2014, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan proposed the creation of the Careers and Enterprise Company, to help schools fulfil their statutory duty to offer careers advice by brokering relationships between schools and employers.

It was followed in March this year with the Education Select Committee calling for careers advice to be “high up the agenda” in the next parliament, in a review of work over the past five years.

In July, management consultant and former adviser to Tony Blair, Claudia Harris, was appointed to lead the Careers and Enterprise Company, and in September the company announced the roll-out of its piloted system of ‘enterprise advisers’ to go into colleges and schools.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said the nationwide roll-out of the network was “a significant milestone” that showed a commitment “to giving young people across the country a first-hand insight into the world of work”.

The new Committee on Education, Skills, and the Economy comprises fourteen members from from both the Education Committee and Business, Innovation and Skills Committee. It is co-chaired by Mr Carmichael and Mr Wright.

 

 

A Greater Manchester council has the honour of being FE’s first community learning and skills provider to be judged outstanding by Ofsted under its new common inspection framework (Cif).

Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, currently allocated £2.8m by the Skills Funding Agency, was visited last month and, in a repeat of its last inspection in 2009, inspectors yesterday delivered grade one (outstanding) verdicts in every headline field.

The local authority’s Lifelong Learning Service provides part-time courses for adults aged 19+, across local venues such as schools, children’s centres, libraries and other community facilities. At the time of inspection, it had 2,689 learners at level one or below, 369 at level two, and 80 at level three.

Councillor Shoab Akhtar (pictured right), Oldham’s cabinet member for education and skills, said: “A key part of our success is that we regularly consult learners, communities and partners to ensure services respond to local demands while also continuously improving what is on offer.

“This outstanding result demonstrates our strong commitment to widening access to learning opportunities and reducing the barriers that can sometimes prevent adults from studying and enhancing their prospects.”

Oldham’s report comes with Ofsted yet to find an outstanding provider among general FE colleges, sixth form colleges or independent learning providers under the new Cif, introduced in September this year. The first FE and skills ‘outstanding’ result came from a dance and drama inspection report on Manchester provider the Northern Ballet School.

Hackney Community College was the first to be rated under new Ofsted framework in late October, gaining a ‘good’ result.

Ofsted’s three-day inspection at Oldham, which was carried out from November 17, resulted in special commendation to the service for working with disadvantaged communities, stating that it “delivers programmes to successfully engage those who are least likely to participate in learning”.

The delivery of English and maths was also deemed very successful, with learners developing “excellent literacy and numeracy skills”. The report found that “the vast majority of learners studying functional skills pass at their first attempt”, and success rates were consistently much higher than the respective national rates.

The provider’s leaders and managers were said to “set and achieve extremely ambitious objectives for the service”, and governance was also found to “promote a very good level of informed and intelligent challenge regarding the quality, success and continued financial viability of the provision”.

Use of data and collaboration with community partners was “highly effective” and contributed to “well-planned and priority-focused provision”, while attendance was “excellent”.

Suggestions made for improvement included stronger arrangements for monitoring and celebrating learners’ destinations, and more detailed target-setting and feedback for learners in a minority of community learning classes.

Coun Akhtar said: “This report is a great endorsement of our Lifelong Learning Service. To have Ofsted confirm that as a local authority we are delivering a hugely popular and effective service, in all areas, is great news and is a source of great pride for all involved.”

He added: “This achievement is even more remarkable when you consider that we are one of the largest providers of adult education in Greater Manchester.

“The service also works alongside our campaign to Get Oldham Working as we are committed to providing people of all ages with the skills so they can be a success in their chosen career.

“I’d like to congratulate our staff, and all our learners, for their part in achieving this amazing ‘outstanding’ result.”

 

Skills Minister Nick Boles has written to college leaders to reaffirm his message that they should be going from delivering a third of all apprenticeships to two thirds.

The letter, dated December 7, reiterates comments Mr Boles made while speaking at the Association of Colleges (AoC) annual conference in Birmingham last month.

“Only around a third of all funding for apprenticeships training will go to FE colleges in 2015/16, with the remainder taken up by private training providers,” wrote Mr Boles.

“I would really like colleges to re-assert themselves here and commit to growing this to two-thirds of what will be a much larger pot by 2020.

“I am confident that you have the capability and entrepreneurial spirit to do it, working closely with employers and learning from those that are already successful.”

The letter comes less than a fortnight after the Treasury’s Spending Review and Autumn Statement, announced by Chancellor George Osborne on November 25, which saw the adult skills budget and the national base rate for 16 to 19-year olds protected in cash terms until 2020.

Mr Boles described the outcome of the spending review as “a good settlement for the sector”.

Nonetheless, the letter said that further savings still needed to be made.

“Like the rest of the public sector, 16 to 19 education will be expected to play its part in tackling the budget deficit, and will need to identify further savings,” wrote Mr Boles.

“We are aiming to set out the detail of savings in 2016/17 in December, and the detail of savings from 2017/18 as soon as possible.”

Mr Boles also urged colleges to “diversify” and to be less reliant on government funding.

“Colleges must do more in this respect if they are to remain sustainable into the future,” he wrote.

“Sustainability also means making the most of the opportunities provided by the spending review, as we put more control over funding into the hands of employers and learners.”

Mr Boles also said that the area reviews of post-16 education currently underway had identified “considerable difference in efficiency across the FE sector, and scope for FE to be delivered which is both higher quality and lower cost.”

Lead providers rated as requiring improvement and even inadequate by Ofsted will be able to deliver traineeships from next academic year, the government has announced.

Currently, only outstanding and good providers can deliver the programme, introduced in 2013, although they can subcontract to grade three (‘requires improvement’) and non-inspected providers.

But the government today said its grade one and two (outstanding and good, respectively) restriction was being removed in a move that has long been called for by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers.

It is hoped the move will see an improvement on last academic year’s 19,400 starts. The lifting of the restriction was revealed in two documents, both published today — English Apprenticeships: Our 2020 Vision and an attachment to Skills Minister Nick Boles’s letter to college governors this month, entitled Implementing the FE and skills reform programme BIS/DfE brief on progress for FE governors and leaders.

They have the same wording, which is: “In August 2013, we introduced traineeships for young people who wish to get an apprenticeship or other employment but lack the basic skills and experience that employers are looking for.

“They have made an excellent start — nearly 30,000 young people have participated in the programme in its first two years; around two-thirds of year-one trainees reached positive destinations following their traineeship, including apprenticeships; and 94% of employers consider traineeships an effective way of preparing young people for work.

“We want to see continued growth of traineeships in order to support as many young people as possible into apprenticeships and sustainable employment. The Skills and Education Funding Agencies are continuing to fund and prioritise traineeships and encourage more providers to deliver them; and as part of this, the agencies are making traineeships a priority when considering in-year growth bids from providers.

“When we introduced traineeships we required that providers are graded ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in order to ensure quality from the outset, but said we would keep this under review as the programme develops. Now that traineeships are fully
established and getting excellent results for young people, from 2016/17 we will place them on a par with other provision by removing this requirement. This will enable more providers to deliver traineeships and ultimately more young people to benefit from them.”

Traineeships are designed for 16 to 24-year-olds and for people with Learning Difficulty Assessments or Education, Health and Care Plans up to academic age 25.

An AELP spokesperson said: “We have been strong supporters of traineeships as a stepping stone for young people on to an apprenticeship and have lobbied for the eligibility of providers delivering the programme to be widened so that those providers can bring their employer customers on board.

“Today’s announcement that all providers can start delivering traineeships from August 2016 should make a major difference in expanding the number of places made available to young people who need credible work experience opportunities and to improve their English and maths before starting an apprenticeship or a job. We hope that the government might consider an even earlier implementation of this proposal.”

He added: “It’s very unlikely you’ll see inadequate providers offering traineeships because in the case of independent learning providers, a grade four [inadequate] inspection by default results in the Skills Funding Agency withdrawing the provider’s contract for everything.”

A government report has hailed the “substantial impact” of FE in getting unemployed people back into work — and called for greater investment into provision for people looking for a job.

The report published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), was based on the experiences of unemployed people and used individualised learner record data on, for example, enrolments on government initiatives such as such the Work Programme as well as “self-refer” learners out of work.

A government spokesperson said: “Analysis of over 2 million unemployed found that FE can make a substantial impact on the chances of unemployed people finding work.”

“This study show that FE learning provides good labour market returns for unemployed individuals,” the report says.

“Those who engage in FE experience a greater improvement in the likelihood of being in employment than those who don’t engage in FE.

“The evidence presented here implies that an expansion of FE learning for the unemployed (including at level two and below) would be beneficial, which should be taken into consideration in any decisions about changes in funding for this provision.”

The 71-page report follows last month’s spending review which appeared positive for FE with news of protection of the “core adult skills participation budgets in cash terms, at £1.5bn” but left lingering questions with no definition as to where “£360m of efficiencies and savings from the adult skills budget by 2019-20” would come from.

A spokesperson for the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) told FE Week: “These findings come as no surprise because our members have long delivered effective skills provision for the unemployed.

“It’s a major reason why we argued against significant cuts to the adult skills budget which funds this provision and why we have pushed for contract growth in this area.”

A spokesperson for the Association of Colleges said: “Colleges have always been successful in helping unemployed people gain the skills and qualifications to find a job. It is therefore pleasing that this is confirmed by the BIS research.”

The report analyses the experiences of new benefit job-seeking benefit claimants between April 2005 and April 2009, and between August 2010 and July 2012, with around 2.3 million people in each group.

Among its findings were that “individuals facing the highest barriers to employment are more likely to be observed in FE learning” and that “this group also see the biggest difference in outcomes relative to those who don’t engage in FE”.

Of those aged 18 to 24 who had “no prior employment experience according to HMRC records”, those who had some form of FE learning were between 4 and 7 per cent more likely to have found work one, two and three years after starting their benefit claim than those with no FE learning.

The report further highlighted the value of learning at level two and below for unemployed learners, which it says had previously been underestimated.

“The central role of FE in helping the most disadvantaged is also central to the methodological problems that led to previous underestimates of the value of learning at level two and below,” it said.

A BIS spokesperson said it was not commenting on the report.

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Editor’s comment

Seeing substantial sense

First came the ‘better-than-expected’ settlement in Chancellor George Osborne’s Budget last month and now this — a BIS report that is clearly, and rightly, complimentary of the FE sector.

They are two seemingly concrete indications that someone in the corridors of power is finally seeing sense.

However, the extent to which Mr Osborne’s Spending Review announcements were as positive as they seemed (ok so, positive in that they were bad, but not as bad as expected) will only emerge with the unpacking of the finer details.

And the extent to which BIS officials, or indeed Mr Osborne himself, will take heed of this report with its praise for the “substantial impact” FE has on unemployed people’s job hopes also remains to be seen.

Of course there’s always the get-out clause in the report, when budgets are being decided upon, that “the views expressed” within are those of the authors and not necessarily of BIS.

But there can surely not be many more clear-cut arguments for the good that FE can do and more clear-cut reasons for the government to finally give the sector the backing it deserves.

Because, as the report points out, it’s support that ultimately would help the government achieve its own aims of reducing levels of unemployment.

Chris Henwood

chris.henwood@feweek.co.uk