Chief executive of the Association of Specialist Colleges (Natspec) Alison Boulton will be standing down in January, FE Week can reveal.

A Natspec spokesperson confirmed today that she will be replaced by Clare Howard (pictured below right), who is currently deputy managing director of Association of Colleges Sport.

Ms Boulton said: “It has been a privilege to lead Natspec through these changing, and challenging, times.

“My lifelong passion has been to improve the quality and experience in education for young people with disabilities and working alongside dedicated and expert staff in member colleges to enable young people to achieve their goals has been immensely rewarding.

She added that “Natspec has been a positive and strong partner in the ever changing policy landscape, working with partners to influence decision making across all levels of government.”

Ms Howard has led sport and health policy at AoC since September 2010, according to her LinkedIn page, and has more than 25 years’ experience in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

She said: “I’m excited by the opportunity to lead a strong national membership organisation in such an important sector.

“Although we are operating in times of scarce resources, it is vital that Natspec represents the voices of young people and their families to improve outcomes, quality of life and reduce long term costs to the public purse.

“I am motivated by change and challenge and look forward to working with members and partners to continue the development of the organisation.”

Further Education Commissioner Dr David Collins (pictured) has revealed his early findings from the first wave of post-16 area reviews.

Scores of people came to hear Dr Collins speak at this year’s Higher and Further Education Show, in London’s ExCel, on Wednesday, October 14.

He discussed the reviews in Birmingham and Solihull, Greater Manchester, Sheffield, Tees Valley, Sussex Coat and Solent, which the government has said were “designed to achieve a transition towards fewer, larger, more resilientand efficient providers, and more effective collaboration across institution types”.

Dr Collins said: “For the next 18 months, myself and a team of advisers supported the Skills Funding Agency and Education Funding Agency will be going around the country endeavouring and encouraging marriages, federations and divorces between colleges to try and set up a sustainable further education sector”.

He added: “What has been clear when we have gone around the colleges in trouble is that the majority speak about the historical situation of poor management and do not address the current issues on efficiency.”

His speech came with initial area review steering group meetings having taken place last month and earlier this month.

The first steering group meeting for the Sussex Coast review is due on October 22 and for Solent it’s on November 5.

Dr Collins said the second steering group meetings would look at the rationalisation of curriculum and the third ones would focus on shared services and estates. The fourth will look at the financial implications and changes that need to be made to the colleges.

Dr Collins also addressed some of the issues he had already identified.

“I have got some issues at the moment with the background knowledge of principals — some of whom may have come from a curriculum route and be weak on the finance side,” he said, adding that the next round of reviews would announced in December.

“Others may have come from the finance side and be weak on the curriculum side.

“It doesn’t matter if you have got a very strong team around you but if you happen to have a weakness in the area of knowledge around you, then you are, in technical terms, in deep do-do.”

Association of Colleges (AoC) chief executive Martin Doel also spoke at the show in the FE Theatre, along with National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) head of employment and skills Toni Pearce.

 

The University and College Union (UCU) has announced planned strike action on November 10 after balloting members over an Association of Colleges (AoC) pay freeze recommendation for 2015/16, FE Week can reveal.

The UCU FE committee met on Saturday to discuss the ballot result, which saw 74 per cent of members vote in favour of strike action.

A spokesperson for the union told FE Week this morning that it had decided to launch strike action on Tuesday, November 10.

Michael MacNeil (pictured), UCU head of bargaining, said: “Our members who voted clearly backed strike action and the FE committee confirmed plans for action this term.

“We intend to take strike action on November 10, but urge the employers to come back to the table to resolve this dispute.”

The Association of Colleges declined to comment on the strike plans.

But when asked about the ballot before it closed on Thursday (October 15), AoC director of employment policy and services Marc Whitworth said: “Although not unexpected it is nevertheless disappointing that the UCU will ballot for action … Strikes are very disruptive for colleges and more importantly for students.

“We would encourage UCU to consider how we might better work together to represent our respective members collectively and position the FE sector to remunerate more effectively in the longer term.

“There is a willingness from the employers’ side to work together to protect the prospects of FE, its skilled workforce and the students it serves.”

It comes after trade union Unison announced last week (October 14) that its FE sector members had “overwhelmingly” voted to reject the AoC recommendation, with 95 per cent dismissing the offer.

Unison also confirmed that it has written to the AoC, and colleges it is negotiating for, with the result and a warning that unless the offer was improved the union would be “in dispute” with them.

The union called for an urgent meeting of the union side of the Joint National Forum, as reported in FE Week, with a view to discussing next steps and also a campaign against further funding cuts ‎expected in the Autumn Statement.

Meanwhile, the Association of Teachers & Lecturers (ATL) has also debated the AoC’s proposal for a wage freeze, but said members were reluctant to pursue industrial action.

The ATL submitted a ballot early last month in the form of a survey to its members, and to members of its leadership section, the Association of Managers in Education (AMiE).

Dr Mary Bousted, ATL general secretary, said: “Although members expressed significant unhappiness with the offer, there was little enthusiasm for sustained industrial action at this time.”

More than 20 Health and Safety Executive (HSE) notices have been served to FE colleges in the last five years with issues ranging from dangerous workshop lathes to concerns over asbestos dust and repetitive strain injury, FE Week can reveal.

Three notices have given to colleges so far this calendar year, with a further nine in 2014, one in 2013, six in 2012 and three in 2011.

The most recent was a prohibition notice issued on April 24 against Totton College, in Southampton, which, an HSE spokesperson said, related to a dangerous vehicle lift in its motor vehicle repair centre.

A Totton spokesperson told FE Week: “The fault was found to be with the manufacturer and quickly rectified.”

The day before, an improvement notice was given to Amersham and Wycombe College (pictured) following the disturbance of asbestos dust that may have been breathed in by six people (see full report on incident below).

Lewisham Southwark College declined to comment on the improvement notice it was handed on February 23.

An HSE spokesperson said the South East London college failed to “ensure suitable and effective measures have been taken to prevent a person or object falling a distance likely to cause personal injury from the open edge of [a] water tank”.

Basingstoke College of Technology was hit with six improvement notices in just one day — July 9 last year — after the HSE found “inadequate guarding” on a number of engineering workshop lathes.

Inspectors said there had also been “insufficient” assessment of risks associated with metalwork coolant fluid.

A college spokesperson said “appropriate action was taken” in response to the notice.

Other notable cases included Rotherham College, which received two improvement notices on May 24, 2012, after a member of staff developed repetitive strain injury.

A college spokesperson said: “A member of staff was diagnosed with tenosynovitis of the right wrist (related to key board use).

“We worked with HSE to rewrite our [display screen equipment] policy.”

Meanwhile, Oaklands College received improvement notices on January 3, 2012, and March 14, 2011.

An HSE spokesperson said the 2012 notice was over failure to put “adequate [safety] arrangements in place” before a lighting cable was broken while a trench was being dug.

The 2011 notice demanded the replacement of corroded buried metallic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pipework.

A spokesperson for the Hertfordshire college said: “The pipe carrying the LPG supply was while not actually leaking, in corroded condition. It was replaced by a Gas-Safe certified engineer with a non- metallic pipe.”

With regard to the other notice, he said the college agreed with HSE that “the path of all future excavations would be cat-scanned in advance to ascertain if any services were present”.

 

See full reports on each of the HSE notices below:

 

A prohibition notice was issued against Totton College over a dangerous vehicle lift.

An HSE spokesperson said the notice was issued on April 24 because the college failed to ensure that a “vehicle lift has locking pins so that when it locks the vehicle does not fall” at the college’s motor vehicle repair centre.

A spokesperson for the Southampton college told FE Week: “The fault was found to be with the manufacturer and was quickly rectified and the notice was lifted within three working days.

“The college followed due process and cooperated fully with the HSE to make sure the equipment was repaired and working again. Their report confirmed that this incident was entirely due to a manufacturing failure and the college was in no way at fault.”

 

Amersham and Wycombe College was hit with an improvement notice on April 23 after five learners and a teacher were potentially subjected to asbestos dust.

An HSE spokesperson said it was issued because the college had “not provided information about the location and condition of asbestos within the college to every person liable to disturb that asbestos”.

A college spokesperson told FE Week that “a small amount of dust” in the ceiling void of a workroom had been disturbed “during the planned removal of an internal partition” on March 5.

“As the part of the building fabric includes asbestos sheeting — which was not damaged during this incident — as a precautionary measure, we sealed the room,” he added.

Subsequent HSE tests on the dust showed “small amounts of asbestos particles” which five learners and a teacher were subsequently warned they may have been exposed to, he said.

The college was given a three-month extension, from the notice’s original June compliance deadline, until September 25. It complied with this.

The HSE spokesperson said: “The college had [previously] undertaken full asbestos surveys for the site, but decided on a new full survey as part of the response to the notice, which does take some time and is why the notice was extended.”

 

An improvement notice was issued against Lewisham Southwark College on February 23 over safety concerns around a water tank.

An HSE spokesperson said that this was because it failed to implement suitable measures “to prevent a person or object falling a distance likely to cause personal injury from the open edge of the water tank located at the rear of the plant building on the Lewisham Way Campus”.

The college declined to comment.

It met with the notice’s February 23 compliance date.

 

Berkshire College of Agriculture was handed a notice of improvement on November 21 last year after a maintenance worker fell from a ladder.

An HSE spokesperson said that this was because it “failed to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks from gutter cleaning”.

A college spokesperson said: “In the course of the planned preventative maintenance at BCA College one of the in-house maintenance team fell approximately 500mm from a ladder while carrying out gutter cleaning.

“As a result of this fall the college was then inspected by the HSE. Despite finding many areas of good practice at BCA, they felt that we had failed to assess the full risks involved with this maintenance task.

“A full internal review of health and safety was brought forward and additional measures put in place including IOSH training for all managers.”

The college complied with the notice’s December 22, 2014, compliance date.

 

Basingstoke College of Technology was hit with six improvement notices on July 9 last year over workshop safety concerns.

A HSE inspection team found that there was “inadequate guarding” on a number of engineering workshop lathes and that there had been “insufficient” assessment of risk associated with metal working fluid.

A college spokespersons said that “lathes in our engineering workshops were judged to need improved guarding and there was a risk assessment required for metalwork (coolant) fluid.

“The appropriate action was taken prior to the start of the new term [that started in September last year].”

The college met the notice’s August 22 compliance date.

 

Carlisle College Corporation was given an improvement notice on June 17 last year relating to scaffolding.

An HSE spokesperson said this was issued over concerns about the “competency of staff within the college on dismantling tower scaffolds”.

Steve Salkeld, vice principal at the college, said: “In relation to the improvement notice regarding a specific incident involving a member of staff, we complied fully with the investigation and were proactive in satisfying the HSE that the necessary remedial actions were in place, such that no charges were pursued by the HSE in relation to the matter.”

The college met the notice’s August 18, 2014, compliance date.

 

Calderdale College was handed an improvement notice on May 15 last year over wood dust concerns in the construction crafts department.

An HSE spokesperson said this was issued because of failure “to ensure that employees who are liable to be exposed to wood dust, an asthmagen — a substance hazardous to health — are under suitable health surveillance”.

A spokesperson for the college, in West Yorkshire, said that it “contacted the HSE and submitted a RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) which prompted a HSE visit.

“The college was not prosecuted and complied with, and implemented all the recommendations given by the HSE,” he added.

The college met the notice’s August 6, 2014, compliance date.

 

An improvement notice was issued against Askham Bryan College on April 14 last year requesting better washing facilities for its animal unit.

A HSE spokesperson said that “the control measures including the washing facilities provided at the animal unit of the college, which members of the public have access to on open days, are not sufficient to cater for the numbers and diversity of people who visit the college on open events.

“Adequate arrangements and washing facilities are required as a control measure against hand — mouth infection by pathogens.”

A spokesperson for the specialist land-based college, in York, said: “In Spring last year (2014), an improvement notice was received from the HSE.

“As a result of that, additional handwashing facilities were installed around the site and the flow of visitors to public events was amended. This was completed well within the compliance date and no further action was required.”

The college met the notice’s May 16, 2014, compliance date.

 

Bournemouth and Poole College received an improvement notice on April 25, 2013, over safety concerns with a milling machine.

A spokesperson for HSE said that this was due to the college not taking “effective measures to prevent access to the dangerous parts (namely the rotating spindle and cutters), or stop the movement of any dangerous parts before any person, or part of a person, enters the danger zone of your manual milling machine”.

A college spokesperson said: “Interlocking guards were fitted onto a milling machine, thereby fully complying with the notice”.

The college met the notice’s June 20, 2013, compliance date.

 

Aylesbury College was hit with an improvement notice on December 6, 2012, after staff had to work in the cold.

A spokesperson for HSE said that this was due to the college’s “failure to have systems in place to control the workplace temperature during work hours, specifically in the reception and security area of the building”.

A college spokesperson said: “Very cold and often windy weather led to low temperatures in the atrium area of the college, particularly around the reception and security desk.

“The college was built with the main entrance — double sets of sliding doors — facing in an easterly direction.

“The resultant low temperatures were impacting staff working in the area including the security team and the reception team.

“The college took a number of measures, including installing additional heaters, adjusting working patterns and relocating the reception desk, while a longer term solution was sought.

“Senior managers were in regular communication with affected staff. The college undertook significant construction work — replacing one set of sliding doors with revolving doors — at substantial cost in order to permanently resolve the issue.”

The college met the notice’s January 31, 2013, compliance deadline.

 

The Manchester College received an improvement notice on July 23, 2012, over “protective measures” failures.

A spokesperson for HSE said that this was because the college had “failed to make and give effect to such arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of preventive and protective measures”.

He added the failings applied, in particular, to “the assessment of contractor competency, including their methods of works and management of health and safety in relation to their work” on the college site.

A college spokesperson said: “We were issued with an improvement notice in relation to the health and safety practice of on-site contractors. We complied with the notice.”

The college met the notice’s October 8, 2012, compliance deadline.

 

Rotherham College received two improvement notices on May 24, 2012 after a member of staff developed repetitive strain injury from keyboard use.

A HSE spokesperson said that this was due to failure to carry out sufficient risk assessment and health and safety training to avoid injury at workstations.

A college spokesperson said “A member of staff was diagnosed with tenosynovitis of the right wrist (related to key board use). The injury was reported to HSE by ourselves. The HSE conducted a visit and found that our display screen equipment policy wasn’t robust enough.

“We worked with the HSE to re write the policy and HSE were happy with the improvements that we made with the on line training package for users, identification of who is a display screen user, and the workplace self-assessment form, to find any concerns staff has with their workstation”.

“She said that the college now also pays for the costs associated with eye tests and towards any corrective lens that are needed.

“Since this one incident, staff haven’t reported any further problems with regard to DSE that we haven’t been able to assist with through the advice, adjustments and support mentioned above.”

The college met the notice’s July 20, 2012, compliance deadline.

 

Westminster Kingsway College was issued with an improvement notice on March 13, 2012, over concerns that someone could be injured falling off a roof.

A spokesperson for HSE said: “The duty-holder failed to take suitable and sufficient measures to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, any person falling a distance liable to cause personal injury, in accessible areas of the roof.”

A spokesperson for the London college said: “The college was undertaking construction work to the roof and windows of its Victoria Centre, in an area that is not normally accessible to staff or students.

“During that time an inspection by the HSE took place.

“They were satisfied with the college’s procedures but identified an unprotected roof edge above a drop of approximately 1.5 metres in a restricted access area accessible to approved contractors via a fixed ladder and locked steel trapdoor.

“An edge protection was installed as part of the construction work.”

The college met the notice’s June 14, 2012, compliance date.

 

Oaklands College received two improvement notices on March 14, 2011, and January 3, 2012, over a corroded gas pipe and a broken lighting cable.

A spokesperson for HSE explained that the first notice called for the “thorough examination/ replacement” of corroded buried metallic liquefied petroleum gas pipework.

The second was over failure to put “adequate [safety] arrangements in place to allow excavation work to be undertaken safely” before a lighting cable was broken while a trench was being dug.

A spokesperson for the Hertfordshire college said: “The metal pipe carrying the LPG supply from tank to House 14 was while not actually leaking, [but] in corroded condition. It was replaced by a Gas-Safe certified engineer with a non- metallic pipe.”

With regard to the second notice, he said that “a lighting cable was encountered and broken” while a trench was being dug.

But he added that the college agreed with HSE “that the path of all future excavations would be cat-scanned in advance of the works to ascertain if any services were present”.

The college met with the June 14, 2011, and March 2, 2012, compliance dates for the notices.

 

Petroc College was issued with a prohibition notice on July 28, 2011, over safety concerns surrounding roofing work.

A spokesperson for HSE said that this prohibited “construction where unsafe work at height was undertaken in the absence of competent site management”.

A spokesperson for the college in Tiverton, Devon, said: “In 2011 a registered roofing contractor was carrying out work on the roof of the sports hall at our Mid Devon Campus in Tiverton.

“A prohibition notice was served to the contractor by HSE for insufficient edge protection. However, as the contractor was working on our site, the notice was issued to Petroc.

“We can confirm that the issue was addressed immediately and work recommenced to finish the project.”

 

Hartpury College improvement notice November 17, 2011, over storage of propane gas.

A spokesperson for HSE said the notice was issued over “bulk storage and pipework”.

A spokesperson for the college in Gloucestershire said: “Following a request from the college for the HSE to review the amount of propane gas on site, the HSE issued an improvement notice as a result of the college having more stored propane gas than allowed.

“All the actions identified on the improvement notice were expedited and the notice subsequently lifted.  There were no fines involved.”

The college met with the January 5, 2011, compliance date.

All trailblazer assessment plans are going to be put out to public consultation from the end of this month, FE Week can exclusively reveal.

Jennifer Coupland, deputy director of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Department for Education (DfE) apprenticeship strategy and policy unit, set out the plans in a letter emailed to all Trailblazer groups yesterday (October 5).

The letter, which has been shown to FE Week, said: “Following the next monthly deadline for expressions of interest, standards and assessment plans (October 29), we will place all assessment plans online for a period of two weeks”.

An accompanying note explained that employer, provider and assessment organisations will be encouraged to read through the plans and provide feedback through online surveys, which will be promoted through BIS and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) publications and social media.

Ms Coupland added in her letter that Trailblazers will “have a further week to review and discuss comments with their BIS relationship manager” after the fortnightly survey periods.

“I hope you will agree that these changes will improve transparency, scrutiny and the evidence base supporting our assessment plan approval process,” she said.

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal feared that the two-week consultation period would not be long enough.

“We need to review the whole governance process for developing and maintaining standards and assessment plans for the long term,” he said.

Teresa Frith, senior skills policy manager for the Association of Colleges, agreed with Mr Segal.

She said the two week consultation period seemed “a little short” but added that it “does create an open and transparent process. It gives all interested parties the opportunity to respond”.

The move follows the launch of a similar process for Trailblazer expressions of interest and standards in August.

It comes after an FE Week report on August 6 revealed mounting frustration among Trailblazers groups, over delays with standards that they had designed being cleared for use by the government.

There are still only 55 standards judged ready for delivery by BIS, following approval of their assessment plans.

Meanwhile, 133 standards have been published but are awaiting approval for delivery.

Of these, 12 have been waiting since November, and a further 19 have been waiting since December.

Provisional figures published earlier this week in the Statistical First Release also showed there had been just 400 starts under the new Trailblazer standards.

 

Business Secretary Sajid Javid has ruled out a degree apprenticeships target — warning it would be “too complex” and could “lead to the wrong kind of behaviour”.

The Bromsgrove MP was grilled by members of the House of Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee on Wednesday (October 14) in a one-off evidence session.

They questioned him about whether — in light of the 3m apprenticeships target for the period of this Parliament having been set — government should also be aiming for a set number of higher level apprenticeships.

“We have not set a target for higher level apprenticeships. Sometimes your targets, just generally, can lead to the wrong kind of behaviour and be too much of a blunt instrument,” said Mr Javid.

“So I didn’t want to have more targets within targets, and then more targets as it would make it more complex.

“We have rationale for it, and I have explained that, but we want to see an increase in quality.”

He added: “If your concern that it is just about quantity that the government is going to focus on then it couldn’t be further from the truth.”

It comes with the latest statistical first release showing that, provisionally, the number of higher apprenticeship starts last year came in at 19,300 — just under 4 per cent of the total number of apprenticeships (492,700).

Final figures show there were 9,200 higher apprenticeship starts the previous year (2.1 per cent of the total), 9,800 (1.9 per cent) in 2012/13 and 3,700 (0.7 per cent) the year before that.

And Mr Javid told members of the committee, which was looking into the work of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and also heard from BIS permanent secretary Martin Donnelly, of the government’s “passion” for degree apprenticeships.

He told how he wanted to see the proposed levy help fund growth in the programme.

“We had to come up with a way in which we could focus on all qualities of apprenticeships, especially the more higher quality apprenticeships — for example degree apprenticeships are something that we are very passionate about,” he said.

“We want to see a big growth in that and it costs a lot of money and I wanted to see if there was a sustainable way to fund that and that is why we came up with the levy.

“But there are different types of quality apprenticeships and within five years from now there might be a type of apprenticeship that we don’t have today, in terms of focus.

“But if employers demand a certain skill that they think can also be dealt with by an apprenticeship, if it is not just through a degree route for example, then we want to leave that flexibility.”

He added: “There will be a huge focus on both the quality of apprenticeships as well as the quantity.

University reserves of around £12bn could play an important role in rebalancing the funding deficit between higher education and FE, a report by Policy Exchange has said.

The think tank reported that the university sector now holds a “staggeringly high” level of discretionary reserves, which stands at £12.3bn even after accounting for pension liabilities and the deficit within the universities pension scheme.

It makes up 48 per cent of the entire annual operating income of the university sector, the report said.

With these resources available for universities to draw from, Policy Exchange has proposed that the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) redirect £532m from universities grant funding towards boosting higher level professional and technical education in FE.

The report, entitled Higher, Further, Faster, More — Improving higher level professional and technical education, called on the government to provide further support for FE.

It said that the sector is “in a position of great risk,” as a result of “a systematic imbalance between the two halves of our tertiary education system”.

While admitting that the proposal was unlikely to be well received by the higher education sector, the report said: “When looking at the post 19 education and training system as a coherent

whole, the higher education element is significantly better funded than its FE counterpart”.

It said higher education income is at record levels, with an operating surplus of 3.9 per cent recorded for 2013/14.

Since the introduction of tuition fees in 2009/10, higher education has seen an overall rise in income of 26 per cent, it said, while FE colleges have seen funding plummet in the same period, with the adult skills budget being cut by 24 per cent in the same period.

Policy Exchange warned that, according to the National Audit Office, more than one in four of the entire FE college network could effectively go bankrupt within a year.

The report also called for FE to be treated as equal to higher education, with student loans being extended to FE students aged 19-24 years and maintenance support being introduced in the sector.

Currently advanced learning loans are only available for learners aged 24 and over, studying at Level three and four.

The government scrapped the 24+ advanced learning loans system for apprenticeships in 2013, due to a disappointingly number of applications.

Jonathan Simons, head of education at Policy Exchange, who has also written an exclusive expert piece on this issue for FE Week, co-wrote the report with Natasha Porter, deputy head of education.

He said: “The case for training and for skills has never been more important — to help create 3m apprenticeships, to fuel the Northern Powerhouse, to boost social mobility and to drive economic growth.

“The UK is home to world beating universities that we should all be proud of. But as well as degrees, we also need many more people with high class technical and professional skills.”

The University and College Union (UCU) welcomed the report’s call for more FE funding, but challenged the idea of taking cash from higher education.

Sally Hunt, UCU general secretary, said: “What is happening in the FE sector is absolutely catastrophic and risks undermining our ability to deliver the skills this report and others identify as crucial for the future of our economy.

“However, we do not accept that the best way to achieve this is to raid cash from our world-leading universities.”

But John Widdowson, president of the Association of Colleges, said: “Policy Exchange makes a strong and convincing case for the government to rethink funding for post-18 education and training in the upcoming Spending Review.

“The outdated practice of highly funding our universities whilst continually taking money away from colleges, is creating a surplus of graduates and not enough people with the qualifications required for technical and professional jobs, such as engineering and construction.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, (Niace), said: “Niace is pleased to see that Policy Exchange are joining us in advocating a universal and unified post 19 funding and student loans system together with a call for personal learning accounts to give people greater control and access to learning throughout their lives. These were key issues within our submission to HM Treasury ahead of the Spending Review.”