Skills Minister Nick Boles has ruled out a blanket ban on new university technical colleges (UTCs) where post-16 education area reviews are taking place.

Shadow Skills Minister Gordon Marsden grilled Mr Boles in a series of written parliamentary questions on the details of the area reviews, including whether any UTCs or post 16 school would be allowed to open.

And Mr Boles answered: “All applications to open a free school, academy, school sixth form or university technical college will be assessed on a case by case basis against the published criteria and taking account of local needs and circumstances.”

The government has said the post-16 area reviews were “designed to achieve a transition towards fewer, larger, more resilient and efficient providers, and more effective collaboration across institution types.”

And James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’ Association, condemned the decision against a blanket ban.

He said: “The government’s position is now as clear as it is absurd — it is simultaneously committed to reducing the number of sixth form colleges while increasing the number of less effective and efficient 16-19 providers.

“It is clear manifesto commitments on school expansion and increasing the number of free schools and UTCs will be met even if this results in a worse deal for young people at a higher cost to the public purse.”

Mr Kewin added: “The Government is quite prepared to hit the target but miss the point.

And while the area reviews are busy creating ‘fewer, larger providers’, more smaller providers will be opening at exactly the same time — this does not look like joined up policy making.”

It has also come as a blow to the Association of Colleges, which has called for a freeze on new provision during reviews, with chief executive Martin Doel saying 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 reviews”.

And in response to refusal of a blanket ban, Mr Doel said: “We expect the area reviews will take into account the sustainability or otherwise of all post-16 school provision and while the reviews are ongoing, government should refrain from opening any new post-16 provision.”

Mr Marsden’s questions to Mr Boles on the area reviews also queried whether any assessment had been made of the possible savings from the post-16 area-based reviews.

Mr Boles conceded that early evidence indicates there is “potential for the reviews to secure efficiency savings”.

Area reviews have so far been announced for 83 general FE colleges and sixth form colleges in the West Yorkshire, Tees Valley, Sussex Coast, Solent, Birmingham and Solihull, Greater Manchester, and Sheffield city areas.

More reviews are expected to be announced shortly.

Government representatives today dismissed the suggestion of targets for different apprenticeship levels in the race for 3m new starts by 2020.

Lord O’Neill of Gatley, commercial secretary to the Treasury (pictured above), and Small Business, Industry and Enterprise Minister Anna Soubry were challenged by the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee.

The duo were quizzed on how their work would ensure that apprenticeship starts counting towards the target were of high quality – but both said focusing on the levels was not necessary.

Committee member Peter Kyle (pictured right) appeared to equate apprenticeship levels with the issue of programme quality when he challenged the duo as to why government had not set a target for higher level apprenticeships — at level four and above.

“All evidence presented to this committee in this inquiry has been that the emphasis should be on quality not quantity — the only target you have is for quantity not quality,” he said today in the third evidence session of the committee’s inquiry into the government’s Productivity Plan.

Ms Soubry (pictured left) responded by saying apprenticeships would be “quality-assured by virtue of the Enterprise Bill”, which includes a measure to prevent providers — but not employers — from labelling courses as apprenticeship if they do not meet the statutory programme’s rules, but added: “I don’t know your levels; I don’t know the detail of that.”

Lord O’Neill said: “I don’t see, at this particular point, identifying numbers between various levels of apprenticeship as that crucial to this particular policy — where we’re trying to change the game of who drives and contributes to the skills agenda.”

The clash came just a fortnight after Business Secretary Sajid Javid, in front of the same committee in a different one-off hearing inquiry on the work of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, ruled out a degree apprenticeships target — warning it would be “too complex” and could “lead to the wrong kind of behaviour”.

It also comes with Pippa Morgan, head of education and skills policy at the Confederation of British Industry, having argued in an FE Week expert piece that “there is a distinction to be made between the level of an apprenticeship and the quality of that apprenticeship”.

Nevertheless, committee chair Iain Wright described the Productivity Plan overall as very wide-ranging, to the point of being “vague” on details such as measuring success in the different areas it covers and determining whether productivity is actually improving.

The launch of the inquiry into the government’s Productivity Plan, which sets out plans for the apprenticeship levy, per-learner funding for adult learning, new institutes of technology to replace some FE colleges and further devolution, was reported in FE Week on July 21.

The results of the first Ofsted short inspection of a good provider were positive for the Cheshire college visited — but fears have emerged that it was “more of a case of how much you can cram in within two days”.

The 4,100-learner Riverside College, in Widnes, was the first FE provider to experience the two-day visit under Ofsted’s new common inspection framework (Cif), which was introduced from September.

The college was inspected from September 23 having previously been visited by Ofsted nearly six years ago when it secured a good rating — putting it on Ofsted’s radar for a short inspection.

The new report said the college “continues to be good,” but assistant principal and Ofsted nominee Alan Brown (pictured right) said: “The key difference is how the new inspections operate and it is now more of a case of how much you can cram in within two days”.

The latest report paints a similar picture to the previous one, but this time it is only five pages long, as opposed to 27 last time, and comes in the form of a letter to the principal,with contents comparable to monitoring reports.

The new Ofsted Cif has specified that all providers with a good Ofsted rating will have shorter inspections more frequently — rather than the traditional five-day full scale inspections.

And Mr Brown said his college inspection was “very firmly focused on the lines of inquiry to see how the previous issues have improved”.

“So the main issue was that the inspectors didn’t move away from the lines of enquiry and couldn’t veer away because of the time frame restraints,” he said.

He also said that for other colleges undergoing a short inspection it was “important to know the inspection framework as Ofsted is currently using the handbook as a clutch”.

Principal Mary Murphy (pictured left) said: “You have to be prepared for when you are getting these short inspections because they are carried out in such a short space of time and you are informed just 48 hours before they take place.

“However, I do prefer them and so do the staff here as [Ofsted] coming in with such short notice gives us less time to anticipate the inspections and not build the college up with as much worry.”

Mrs Murphy also said that the less time you are given, the “more chance the inspector can see you as you really are”.

An Ofsted spokesperson said it was too early to comment on any lessons about short inspections.

A rename for the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) following its merger with the Centre for Social Inclusion (Inclusion) has been approved by members.

Niace held its annual general meeting this afternoon at City Lit, in London, with the new Learning and Work Institute name the key item on the agenda.

Members voted to approve plans, exclusively revealed by Niace chief executive David Hughes to FE Week on October 21, to rename.

Mr Hughes (pictured right) said: “We had a big majority in favour of the new name, with only two members and one organisation [whom he declined to identify] voting against it.”

He added that there was debate among members over why the word ‘adult’ had been dropped from the new name.

“There were some people saying ‘if we drop the word, let’s make sure that we don’t lose our commitment to learning for older people’ and we were able to assure them that we are still committed to lifelong learning,” said Mr Hughes.

“It’s important to us to ensure that our society allows for good quality learning and development right through from apprenticeships for younger people to old age.”

The Niace board is set to give final legal approval for the merger on December 10, before it comes into effect on January 1.

Mr Hughes said: “Waiting until the new year will give us a little bit of time to tie up all the loose ends and come up with things like the new logo.

“The plan is for the new website to go live on January 2.”

It was confirmed in July, as reported in FE Week, that Niace, based in Leicester which employed 65 people at the time, and Inclusion, based in London which employed 20 people, would be progressing from their previous “strategic alliance” to a full merger.

Mr Hughes told FE Week after the AGM that “there is no plan for job losses”, or to close offices in Leicester, Cardiff, and London following the merger.

However, he added that “the determining factor” for future decision over jobs would be the results of the government spending review due to report later this month.

“We get a lot of commissioned work from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Work and Pensions, and other government agencies, so will have to see if cutbacks lead to a big loss of income for us,” he said.

Maggie Galliers (pictured above left), chair of Niace’s company board, said: “Throughout the summer, we listened carefully to our stakeholders, members, partners, funders and staff and the changes today reflect the hundreds of conversations we’ve had.

“Our members are committed to ensuring the new Learning and Work Institute will follow in the traditions of its parent organisations and as a wider-reaching, stronger entity find even more ways to make learning and work count and improve the lives of millions.”

Dave Simmonds (pictured right), Inclusion chief executive, said: “We welcome the decision of the Niace membership to back the merger and the new name of Learning and Work Institute.

“We’re looking forward to 2016 and forging a new organisation firmly based on improving life opportunities for all.”

Members at the AGM also approved a new impact report of the work in 2014/15 of Niace.

It reported, for example, on how Niace had helped the government improve referral rates on to traineeships by Jobcentre Plus staff and trained 16 to 24-year-olds as researchers for a project geared at finding out what employers want from training.

Visit www.niace.org.uk/sites/default/files/resources/4.%20NIACE_Impact%20Report%202014-15.pdf to download a copy.

Limited demand for level three apprenticeship skills among UK businesses could lead to “resistance” to the proposed large employers’ levy, according to joint House of Commons select committee research out today.

Business, Innovation and Skills committee chair Iain Wright (pictured above left) and his Education committee counterpart Neil Carmichael (pictured above right) commissioned the research, which claims that “considerable challenges lie ahead to design such a levy”.

A 38-page report, featuring research from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), compares education and training in the UK, United States, France and Germany.

It looked at the issue of the proposed large employers’ apprenticeship levy, among others, for which a government consultation closed on October 2, and concluded that “employer commitment to apprentice training in the UK continues to be limited by comparison with Germany and some other Continental European nations”.

It adds: “In large part this reflects the business strategies deployed by many British firms which do not seek to specialise in high skill, high value added product areas or to organise their workplaces in skill-intensive ways.

“In this context there is only limited demand for level three apprentice skills among British employers and the government may encounter resistance from some employers to its recent proposal to introduce a levy on large firms to help fund apprentice training.

“Considerable challenges lie ahead to design such a levy in ways that will both achieve its objectives — to expand high-quality apprentice training — and secure buy-in from a significant proportion of employers.”

Most recent government figures, released in this month’s Statistical First Release, show that of the 492,700 apprenticeships provisionally recorded for 2014/15, 36.3 per cent (179,000) were at level three. The provisional figure for the year before was 141,100, or 32.6 per cent of 432,400 apprenticeships were at level three.

And the report says that below level three, the “UK’s apprenticeship system has expanded to reach a high number of trainees and looks on the surface to be very promising in terms of skill development”.

“However, a large proportion of employers of apprentices do not appear to offer high-quality training,” it says.

“Many trainees are aiming only for NVQ level two qualifications rather than the level three or higher qualifications which are typically associated with apprenticeship training in Continental Europe.

“Furthermore, some training under the ‘apprenticeship’ heading for older workers in their existing jobs seems to amount to little more than short-duration skills updating or accreditation of existing skills.”

The report covers a number of other areas relating to education and skills systems, such as technical and vocational qualifications, and the skills shortage in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Stem) subjects.

Mr Wright said: “Education and skills policy has an important role to play in boosting productivity and living standards. It is vital that there is closer alignment between the requirements of business and the skills and capabilities our education system provides to young people. Far too often there is little if any co-ordination.

“This is made worse by the silo-based approach in Government, which doesn’t have the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills talking to the Department for Education. We on the Select Committees want to show Government how working across policy areas and across parties is possible.

“Working jointly on skills and productivity gives the committees a real opportunity to ensure young people have the skills they need to achieve fulfilling careers and boost the country’s productivity.”

Mr Carmichael said: “Businesses need to ramp up their efforts to engage with schools while our education system needs to get better at equipping pupils with the right skills to enter the workplace and drive these businesses forward.”

Further details of the future programme of the Education and BIS Committees’ joint work on education, skills and productivity is expected to be published later this month.

Follow @FEWeek today from 9am for coverage of a joint committee seminar, featuring NIESR officials as well as high-profile sector figures such as Professor Lady Alison Wolf, covering the contribution the education and skills systems (up to age 19) make to productivity.

Consultation has opened on the first batch of Trailblazer assessment plans to be subject to public scrutiny.

Anyone with an interest has until November 13 to comment on the 16 new draft assessment plans, which include gas engineering and aviation ground specialist, via the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) online consultation hub.

The move follows the government’s decision, exclusively revealed by FE Week last month, to put all new trailblazer assessment plans out for a two-week public consultation.

In a letter emailed to all Trailblazer groups on October 5, Jennifer Coupland (pictured below right), deputy director of the joint BIS and Department for Education (DfE) apprenticeship strategy and policy unit, said the public consultation was intended to “improve transparency, scrutiny and the evidence base supporting our assessment plan approval process”.

Trailblazer groups would be given a chance to respond to the consultation feedback, according to a guidance note accompanying Ms Coupland’s letter, before a final decision is made on the plan.

The guidance note also stated that BIS and the Skills Funding Agency will, in addition to promoting each consultation through their own publications and social media, “seek regular feedback from cross-cutting employer, provider and assessment organisations”.

Trailblazer groups are also encouraged to promote the consultation “through your own channels if you think this would be helpful”.

The assessment plans currently open for consultation are:

• Professional Accounting / Taxation Technician
• Bespoke Tailoring
• Highway Electrical Maintenance and Installation Operative
• Highways Electrician / Service Operative
• Highways Maintenance Skilled Operative
• Digital Marketer
• Infrastructure Technician
• Aviation ground operative
• Aviation ground specialist
• Gas engineering
• HM Forces Serviceperson
• Outside Broadcasting Engineer
• Public Sector Commercial
• Composites Technician
• Embedded Electronic Systems Design and Development Engineer
• Junior Management Consultant

The consultation runs until November 13 via the BIS online consultation hub.

Prestigious awards and special commendations have been handed out to dozens of learners and employers at National Apprenticeship Awards (NAAs) regional finals for the East Midlands and East of England.

The last two of 11 NAA regional finals held over the last month took place at Sketchley Grange Hotel, Leicestershire, Thursday, October 29, and Rowley Mile Racecourse, Newmarket, on Tuesday, October 27, (winners pictured above) respectively.

Awards and special commendations were announced for 19 employers and 16 apprentices, aged between 18 and 61, across the two events.

More than 90 winners from all 11 regions will now be considered for the national finals — with three from each category set to be shortlisted ahead of a presentation ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, on January 26.

Sue Husband, director of the National Apprenticeship Service, said that she wanted to pass on “huge congratulations to all the winners and highly commended at this year’s regional apprenticeship awards”.

“All the ceremonies have been a huge success and have highlighted how apprenticeships are helping businesses and individuals succeed and grow,” she added. “Bring on the final, and I wish them all [the regional award winners] luck.”

Regional finals took place for the South East on October 21, and Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Staffordshire, and South West, covering Thames Valley and Solent the following day.

They came after ceremonies for the North West, covering Liverpool, Cumbria and Lancashire, South West, covering Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Bournemouth, Poole and South Gloucestershire, Yorkshire and the Humber, West Midlands, London, and the North East were held between October 8 and 15, as covered by FE Week.

A Skills Funding Agency spokesperson said that the regional finals for the NAAs, which are now in their 12th year, had presented an important opportunity to “highlight the many success stories and the benefits of apprenticeships”.

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Here are the latest winners and highly commended apprentices and employers:

East of England

Winners:

McDonald’s Award for Intermediate Apprentice of the Year: Ashleigh Everett, age 20, level two hairdressing, Boldero and Filby

EAL Award for Advanced Apprentice of the Year: Daniel Swain, age 23, level three mechanical engineering, Delphi Diesel Systems

The Nuclear Decommissioning Site Licence Companies Award for the Higher Apprentice of the Year: Callum Rowe, age 23, level four business administration, MBDA Ltd

City & Guilds Award for Apprenticeship Champion of the Year: Neil Cain, age 51, level five horticulture, John O’Conner (Grounds Maintenance) Ltd

Unilever Award for Small Employer of the Year: Suffolk Canine Creche Limited

The E.ON in partnership with the National Skills Academy for Power Award for Medium Employer of the Year: Bango.net Ltd

BAE Systems Award for Large Employer of the Year: MBDA

BT Award for Macro Employer of the Year: Greene King

EDF Energy Award for Newcomer SME of the Year: Oaks Hospital

Highly Commended:

Liam Bartle, age 20, level two customer service, Clarity Travel Management

John Coombes, age 21, level three engineering, Ford Motor Company

Chloe Lakey, age 21, level three delivery management British Telecom

Holly De Boise, age 30, level five business administration, Hertfordshire County Council

Dave White, age 35, level three telecommunication engineering, BT

Ginger Nut Media

IT Fleet Automotive

B3 Living Limited

E2v Technologies UK Ltd

Computacenter

Hertfordshire County Council

Forensic Healthcare Services Limited

Freedom Communications (UK)

 

East Midlands

Winners:

AL Award for Advanced Apprentice of the Year: Oliver Chapman, age 21, level three IT, software, web & telecoms professionals, British Telecom

The Nuclear Decommissioning Site Licence Companies Award for the Higher Apprentice of the Year: Alexander Hunt, age 19, level four life sciences and chemical science professionals, Unilever

City & Guilds Award for Apprenticeship Champion of the Year: Michael Motley, age 61, level three metallurgical technician, British Steel

Unilever Award for Small Employer of the Year: Aidan J Reed

BAE Systems Award for Large Employer of the Year: Liebherr GB

BT Award for Macro Employer of the Year: National Grid

Highly Commended:

Alex Newton, age 18, level three IT, software, web & telecoms professionals, Boots the Chemist

Liam Roberts, age 21, level three construction building, Barratt Development

Alice Winter, age 20, level four, supply chain management, Boots the Chemist

Lee Mason, age 41, level three construction and plant maintenance engineer, Liebherr

Emh group

Travis Perkins

Kwik-Fit (GB)