Five FE and sixth form colleges facing “significant financial challenges” are “actively considering” collaboration plans, following a pioneering review of post-16 provision in North East Norfolk and North Suffolk.

Great Yarmouth College (GYC), Lowestoft College (LC), and Lowestoft Sixth Form College (LSFC) released a joint statement this morning confirming that they are looking at forming a “partnership, designed to combine their strengths but still protect the individual identity of each college”.

Daphne King (pictured right), principal of grade two Ofsted rated East Norfolk Sixth Form College (ENSCF), in Gorleston, also said that ENSCF plans to “strengthen” its existing partnership with fellow grade two Ofsted-rated Paston Sixth Form College (PSFC), in North Walsham.

The exact format of both collaborations is still to be agreed.

The moves follow a review of post-16 provision in North East Norfolk and North Suffolk, which covered all five colleges.

It was overseen by the FE Commissioner Dr David Collins (pictured left) and Sixth Form College Commissioner (picture below right) during the first five months of this year.

A report on this published yesterday (Monday) by Mr Mucklow said that it was “clear from the evaluation, that it would be difficult for all five [colleges] to stand alone in the longer term.

“Doing nothing has already been determined not to be a viable option,” the report added.

“There is the strong likelihood of the collapse of some of the local provision within the next two years if nothing is done.”

It added that all the colleges involved were facing “significant financial challenges”.

“Between the five colleges at the time of the site visits, the picture showed a potential deficit for the 2014 to 2015 academic year of just over £1.3m.

“Some of this has since been managed down through in-year efficiencies, but this is projected to rise in 2015 to 2016.”

It added that the combined college liability, in terms of long-term bank loans to fund past capital development, was also almost £11m.

It comes after the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) yesterday announced plans, in its report Reviewing post-16 education and training institutions, for a “programme of area-based reviews to review 16+ provision in every area” of the country.

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

The spokesperson for GYC and LSFC, both rated good by Ofsted, and grade three Ofsted rated LC said: “This is an innovative and arguably overdue solution for the towns of Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

“As individual institutions, we are each experiencing the challenge of a fall in the college age population across our two towns, so rather than competing amongst ourselves, we want to explore a way to work together.

“Our aim is to create a new, stronger college group with the secure foundations needed to establish an even wider range of relevant and specialist courses.

“This will strengthen links with local industries, such as our growing energy sector, by delivering a skilled workforce.

“It will also ensure our local students gain the experience they need to secure their chosen career, with a seamless transition from secondary, through to further and higher education.”

Ms King said: “My college and PSFC have been sharing services since September last year and further work is being done to ascertain the benefits of forming a stronger partnership.

“We are two of the highest performing colleges in Norfolk and we want to build on our reputation for excellence.”

No-one from PSFC was available to comment.

Gordon Boyd, assistant director for education at Norfolk County Council, said: “We want the best possible education for Norfolk students, so we are very supportive [of the plans].”

Suffolk County Council was unable to provide a comment ahead of publication.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), which were all involved in the area review, declined to comment.

National Apprenticeship Week (NAW) will run next year from March 14 to 18.

The dates for the ninth annual NAW, which celebrates the positive impact that apprenticeships and traineeships have on learners, businesses and the economy, were confirmed today by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Skills Funding Agency (SFA).

This year’s (2015) NAW, which ran from March 9 to 13 and was covered extensively in a special FE Week supplement, saw more than 600 apprenticeship-themed events and activities, staged for example by learners, FE providers, schools and employers, across the country.

A spokesperson for the SFA, which co-ordinates NAW, said that “we hope there will be even more events next year [2016], making it the best ever”.

They will include the second FE Week Annual Apprenticeship Conference and Exhibition (AAC), which will be held at Birmingham’s International Convention Centre (ICC) for three days from Wednesday, March 16.

Stewart Segal (pictured right), chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers,  said: “NAW is a great opportunity to focus

on the success of the apprenticeship programme and the 2016 week will show the progress towards achieving the 3m target.

“Many training providers work with employers and their apprentices to raise the profile of this vital programme.

“We’ll be supporting our members during the week and are delighted to be strategic partners again in the AAC.”

Teresa Frith (pictured left), senior skills policy manager for the Association of Colleges, said: “Apprenticeships are an important way for young people to bridge the gap between education and the world of work, by earning while they’re still learning.

“National Apprenticeship Week helps to make young people aware that there is another career option open to them.”

Tom Stannard, deputy chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace), said: “The NAW will play a key role in highlighting the importance of apprenticeships for people of all ages and not just young people.  We hope that the government’s ambition for 3m apprenticeship starts results in millions of completions, providing apprentices with a solid foundation for their future career and progression throughout.

“We also hope that the week will encourage more employers to set up quality schemes and benefit from the increased productivity that higher levels of training, including apprenticeships, bring to workplaces of all sizes across the country.”

Richard Harrington, Prime Minister David Cameron’s advisor on apprenticeships and joint chairman of the new Apprenticeship Delivery Board, said: “As part of its remit to stimulate apprenticeship growth, I’m pleased to say that the Apprenticeship Delivery Board will be steering the direction of the next National Apprenticeship Week, which in 2016 will be between March 14 to 18.

“The knowledge, expertise and enthusiasm of the board will assist our colleagues in business, in BIS, the SFA and the FE and Skills sector to deliver a great week that will highlight the government’s key priorities and commitments in this area — including the drive towards 3m apprenticeship starts in this parliament and the progress of reforms to give employers control of apprenticeships.”

A 157 Group spokesperson said: “We continue to support and promote NAW and look forward to getting involved with the 2016 campaign.

“This is a vitally important initiative to raise the profile of apprenticeships, among potential apprentices, employers — particularly small and medium sized enterprises — and the wider public.

“Apprenticeships have been given centre stage by the government’s skills agenda and it is crucial that all employers understand how and why they should get involved.”

Part of the purpose of NAW is to encourage more interest in apprenticeships. This year’s (2015) NAW saw an additional 200 businesses joining the Trailblazer programme, which is challenging employers to design hundreds of new apprenticeship frameworks.

There was also a record-breaking 23,000 apprenticeship vacancies were pledged and the SFA spokesperson said that the “ambition for NAW 2016 will be to better this”.
Sue Husband (pictured left), director of the National Apprenticeship Service, said: “Last year’s NAW saw some tremendous achievements, but I want next year’s to be the best yet.

“I am looking forward to once again raising the profile of apprenticeships and traineeships and celebrating the important role they play in equipping people of all ages with the skills that they need to prosper in their lives.”

The 2015 AAC attracted more than 600 delegates to Westminster’s Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, in March.

Speakers at the event, hosted by broadcaster and journalist Kirsty Wark, included Skills Minister Nick Boles, Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna and the then-House of Commons Education Select Committee chair Graham Stuart, who used the conference to launch the committee’s report on apprenticeships and traineeships for 16 to 19-year-olds.

Would-be delegates to the 2016 AAC are being urged to save the date, register their interest here and keep an eye out for further announcements about booking information, speakers and other activities, in FE Week and at feweek.co.uk later this year.

Further cuts to college budgets will account for just 13 per cent of extra savings needed at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), Nick Boles has announced in a letter to the sector.

In a letter issued in the wake of yesterday’s announcement by the Skills Funding Agency that FE providers will face a cut of 3.9 per cent on their non-apprenticeship adult skills budgets between August this year and March 2016.

It comes on top of cuts of up to 24 per cent already made to adult skills budgets earlier this year.

It comes after FE sector leaders criticised the cuts, with Association of Colleges assistant chief executive Julian Gravatt (right) claiming they would have a “devastating impact”.

Mr Boles (pictured above) said the savings achieved through the cut, plus the additional withdrawal of mandatory ESOL funding, added up to £60m of the £450m of savings which BIS needs to find during this financial year.

He also set out how a national programme of area reviews would help FE operate on “tight budgets”, and re-iterated the government’s desire to see “fewer, larger” providers.

He said: “In order to achieve our ambitions on productivity in the context of tight budgets, we need to take the opportunity to proactively reshape our provider base to deliver both strong and stable institutions.

“Yesterday I published a policy statement that sets out our approach to facilitating a restructuring of the post-16 education and training sector through a series of area based reviews.

“Colleges will participate in these reviews as independent institutions but I do expect all institutions to take advantage of the opportunity to consider the best structure to deliver for learners and employers in their areas.

“The objective of the area reviews is to enable a transition towards fewer, larger, more resilient and efficient providers, and more effective collaboration across a range of institution types.

“A critical aspect will be to create greater specialisation, with the establishment of genuine centres of expertise, able to support progression up to a high level in professional and technical disciplines, while also supporting excellence in other fundamental areas such as English and Maths.”

The FE sector is also waiting to find out what will happen to 16 to 19 funding, with the Department for Education also expected to save £450m during this financial year.

The Education and Training Foundation has been asked to draw up a “programme of reform” for functional skills qualifications, Skills Minister Nick Boles has announced.

In a letter to providers, Mr Boles said he was tasking the Foundation with coming up with ideas to make the qualifications a “well-respected and credible” alternative to GCSEs.

It comes after an ETF review of the qualifications led by former Jersey principal Professor Ed Sallis earlier this year found they were “not broken, but could be improved”.

In his letter, Mr Boles said: “In my previous letter, I mentioned that I had commissioned the Education and Training Foundation to carry out a review of the best way to achieve and accredit maths and English in post-16 education outside of GCSEs.

“The Foundation’s recommendations, published in March 2015, provide valuable new evidence for improving the quality and recognition of functional skills qualifications to ensure they meet the needs of employers and learners.

“I believe that Functional Skills should continue to be the main alternative English and Maths qualifications to GCSEs. However, to be well-respected and credible, it is critical they suit employers’ needs and are properly taught and assessed.

“I have, therefore, asked the Foundation to set out what a programme of reform to update English and maths functional skills qualifications would involve, working closely with BIS, DfE and Ofqual.”

The further review of the qualifications has been welcomed by sector leaders.

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal said: “We are pleased that the minister has confirmed his support for functional skills.  We believe that employers and learners value Functional Skills as a real alternative to GCSEs.

“We are pleased that the minister has asked the ETF to do this review as this will ensure that the sector will be involved in the discussions to improve the delivery of the both English and maths.

“We need to ensure all learners have an alternative route to improving their basic skills and functional skills is a different but just as rigorous as GCSEs. We look forward to working with ETF and providers on this review.”

Charlotte Bosworth, director of skills and employment at OCR, said: “Core skills in English and maths are clearly critical to learners of any age engaging in learning and employment. We agree with Nick Boles that there needs to remain an alternative to GCSE.

“Part of the difficulty experienced by functional skills is the lack of name recognition that the GCSE has. Partly this is due to the relative youth of Functional Skills as a qualification when compared to the more long standing GCSE, but this is partly due to too little being done to promote the existence of Functional Skills to employers.

“We advocate an alternative GCSE that is more suited to the post-16 education environment that shares the GCSE name but retains those elements of flexibility that are critical to enabling post-16 learners to succeed, for example, a more modular approach and with more frequent opportunities for assessment.

“However, we caution against jumping again to immediate qualification reform, with so much currently being reformed in the education and training sectors, it might be better to focus on engagement, at least initially, rather that launching another round of reforms.”

ETF chief executive David Russell said: “Since our inception we have been delivering significant programmes of work to help providers build capacity in their teaching workforce to meet the demand for maths and English.  Our review ‘Making maths and English Work for all’ clearly demonstrated the demand for qualifications which provide practical maths and English skills.

“We are delighted to have been asked by the Minister to set out what a programme of reform to update English and maths functional skills qualifications would involve.  We will use our unique sector-owned position in the skills system to consult with education and training professionals and their representatives, employers and other key stakeholders such as awarding organisations, alongside BIS, DfE and Ofqual.”

Almost £50m of funding may have been wrongly paid out by the Skills Funding Agency last financial year and could be clawed backed from 16 colleges.

A National Audit Office (NAO) report on the SFA’s 2014-15 accounts published this morning has revealed the “irregularity of expenditure”.

It related to payments for capital projects totalling £49.9m made to the 16 FE colleges “in advance of need”, which the SFA may now have to claim back from the colleges following a review.

An NAO spokesperson criticised the SFA for failing to “challenge revised expenditure profiles submitted by colleges sufficiently” before handing out the disputed capital grant payments in February and March, despite “evidence of slippage in the capital programme” in December 2014.

The SFA also failed, according to the NAO spokesperson, to “seek prior approval from HM Treasury for the payments in advance of need, as required by the Treasury’s Managing Public Money.

“The SFA then sought retrospective approval from the Treasury for making the payments which the latter refused on the grounds that it had not sufficiently demonstrated the benefit or value for money from making these payments”.

The SFA’s programme assurance team will now “review the compliance by colleges with the financial programme management arrangements for the College Capital Investment Fund (CCIF),” the NAO spokesperson said.

He added: “If this review identifies that colleges claimed funds in advance inappropriately, the SFA will seek to recover those funds.”

The SFA’s chief executive Peter Lauener will also, the NAO spokesperson said, be commissioning a review by the Government Internal Audit Service into financial management and control arrangements relating to the College Capital Investment Fund (CCIF), following the disputed payments.

The payments were, the NAO spokesperson added, part “of a distribution by the SFA of £143m of remaining capital funds to FE colleges by the end of March 2015”.

Responsibility for public funding of capital projects at FE colleges passed to local enterprise partnerships from the start of the current financial year.

An SFA spokesperson said: “During our year-end audit of expenditure performed by the NAO, it was found that 16 colleges (one with 2 capital schemes) had secured payments in advance of need for capital projects funded by profile through the CCIF, which finished at the end of March 2015.

“This resulted in a qualification of the SFA accounts for the 2014 to 2015 financial year.

She added: “The NAO has said that our accounts have been properly prepared and show a true and fair view, and that except for the capital grant payments, in all material respects the expenditure and income of our accounts has been used for the purposes intended.

“There is no suggestion that these payments were not for agreed capital programmes.

“We will be commissioning reviews of our internal financial management and control arrangements and the compliance by colleges with the financial programme management arrangements for the CCIF.

“If this review identifies that colleges secured funds in advance inappropriately the SFA will, as is our normal process, seek to recover those funds.”

Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said: “We are confident that all payments were used by the colleges to complete the necessary building work and there is no suggestion from the SFA that this funding has not been used for the purpose intended.

“It is also not surprising that in some colleges such large scale construction projects ran over their original completion dates.”

The 16 colleges which secured pre-payments were Harrow College, Knowsley College, Lewisham and Southwark College, Stoke on Trent College (2 capital schemes), Warwickshire College, Wiltshire College, Bradford, Capel Manor, Colchester Institute, Kendal College, PETROC, Reaseheath College, Sheffield College, Somerset College of A&T, South Thames College and Leeds City College.

The government’s Productivity Plan will be the first focus of the new business, innovation and skills (BIS) select committee, its chair Iain Wright has confirmed.

The recently-elected committee has launched an inquiry into the plan, which was released earlier this month and set out plans for an apprenticeship levy, per-learner funding for adult learning, new institutes of technology to replace some FE colleges and further devolution.

Mr Wright (pictured), the Labour MP for Hartlepool who beat former chair Adrian Bailey MP and Roberta Blackman-Woods MP to the chair earlier this month, said the committee wanted to play a “constructive role” in assessing the plan.

He said: “Productivity is the pressing economic challenge of this Parliament and tackling the productivity gap is crucial to the UK’s economic competitiveness and to improving workers’ living standards.

“As a committee we will keep a determined focus on scrutinising investment, regulation, innovation and skills policies designed to boost productivity.

“Launching this inquiry marks the start of the committee playing a constructive role in assessing the government’s productivity plan and ensuring it delivers meaningful results for the UK economy.”

The committee has asked for written submissions by Thursday, September 10, and has issued a number of questions for respondents to consider.

They are, firstly, do you agree with the government’s assessment of the reasons for the UK’s productivity slowdown (as outlined in the annex to the Plan)? and has the government acknowledged all of the main causes of the UK’s poor productivity growth?

Secondly, it states that “one pillar of the government’s plan is to increase “long-term investment”. It outlines eight areas with specific measures to increase productivity” before asking why has the UK’s long-term investment been so low up to now? and how can we ensure that the measures relating to long-term investment in the new plan will contribute to productivity growth?

Thirdly, it says “the second pillar of the government’s plan is to encourage a “dynamic economy”. It outlines seven areas with specific measures to increase productivity” and then asks what are the main weaknesses of our economy, in terms of dynamism, which are suppressing our productivity? It also ask whether the measures introduced under in the plan address those weaknesses and are they appropriate?

Finally, it asks whether, overall, the plan adequately addresses the main causes of low productivity in the UK (as discussed in question 1) and will it have the desired results?

Click here to take part, here to visit the committee’s webpage, here for its Twitter account, and keep updated on its inquiry using the #ProductivityPlan hashtag.

You can read an extensive FE Week Q&A with Mr Wright here.

FE providers face a further cut of almost four per cent to their non-apprenticeship funding in 2015/16, the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has confirmed.

In a letter to the sector, SFA chief executive Peter Lauener has announced the 3.9 per cent cut to adult skills budget (ASB) and discretionary learner support allocations, which is being made in response to £450m of in-year savings required of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).

Additionally, the SFA will attempt to save money by withdrawing all funding for mandated English for speakers of other languages (Esol) provision for the 2015/16 funding year.

In his letter, Mr Lauener explained that the 3.9 per cent cut would be made across the board to non-apprenticeship allocations received by providers in March, which were already subjected to cuts of up to 24 per cent.

He said: “In February, I wrote to you about the context for funding allocations for 2015 to 2016. My letter focused on the reduction in the ASB and the likely impact of this on your funding allocation.

“Since I wrote that letter, a new government has been elected and, on July 8, they set out their summer budget. This included details of the proposed savings within the 2015 to 2016 financial year across all government departments, including BIS.

“Naturally, as part of BIS, the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) has to contribute to the savings required.”

He said BIS and the SFA had spent weeks assessing options to “make savings in such a way as to minimise their impact on the FE sector”.

He added: “Ministers have now agreed the options, which include savings from both nonparticipation and participation budgets.

“These changes affect most colleges and other training organisations. So that you can see what this means for you, we will issue updated funding statements through the Hub later this week. Your updated funding statement will include a covering letter clearly summarising any changes to your allocation.”

In an update on the delayed growth requests Mr Launer confirmed the agency would fund apprenticeship over delivery up until March 2015 and that the agency will consider credible growth requests beyond March 2015.

However no timescales have been given for when the delayed growth requests will be reviewed, other than it will follow the confirmation of the new reduced ASB allocations.

The letter goes on to extend the deadline for colleges to submit their financial plans from July 31 to September 30, in light of “unique circumstances”.

Mr Lauener said: “Colleges only need to submit updated plans where they consider that there is a material impact on their financial position that is not reflected adequately in the submission made in July.”

Julian Gravatt, assistant chief executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC), said the further cut would have a “devastating impact” on the work colleges do in educating and training adults.

He added: “Without this funding, adult education will be decimated meaning an end to vital courses which provide skilled employees for the workforce.

“Not only are these substantial funding cuts but colleges have only had two weeks’ notice that they will take place. Like universities and schools with sixth forms, colleges have a recruitment cycle for full-time students, which runs for at least six months before courses start.

“Good decision-making about education options and future careers takes time and involves legally binding offers. Last minute decisions by the government, like this one, put this at risk.”

David Hughes, chief executive of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, said: “The 3.9 per cent cut comes after multi-year cuts which have greatly reduced chances for people to learn.

“The cuts are also the first of potentially three to FE colleges, with 16-19 and higher education still unclear. These further cuts come on the same day as the NAO report which set out the very real financial challenges colleges are facing, and of course this only increases the pressure.

“The further cut to the ASB, in the form of £45m taken out of Esol funding is extremely disappointing, given that it will hit people who are working hard to gain the language skills they need to participate in work and in our society.

“It seems ironic, that this budget was to support unemployed people, a major priority for this government.”

Stewart Segal, the chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, said: “Clearly it is positive that the SFA will be funding all delivery and growth cases for apprenticeships in 2014-15.

“However this unnecessary delay has caused a lot of issues for employers, learners and providers and will take some time to resolve.

“The reduction in the non-apprenticeship ASB budget is another short term decision that will create further problems for providers who have to cope with yet another in-year decision.”

Large-scale mergers may be needed among sixth form colleges (SFCs) to cope with looming funding problems, Sixth Form Commissioner Peter Mucklow has warned.

Mr Mucklow warned, in a letter to every SFC in the country on Thursday (July 16), that “the tough funding climate” will continue to “present challenges to many sixth-form colleges over the next few years”.

He said that a number of governing bodies and principals “will wish to explore” structural changes to avoid financial difficulties, which could include shared services, federations or mergers.

He suggested that such collaboration may need to be between groups of more than two colleges, stating that “structural change on a small-scale or on a single institution-to-institution basis may be insufficient or sub-optimal in the longer term”.

However, Sixth Form Colleges’ Association (SFCA) chief executive David Igoe History warned that “history suggests that mergers and re-organisation rarely achieve the efficiencies and improvements hoped for”.

He added: “Sadly, some high performing colleges are at risk simply because of their size and the fundamental inadequacy of the funding rate available to do the job.

“The SFCA will strive to both argue for appropriate funding and to support measures to minimise the impact of any further reductions which may be just over the horizon.”

He added that the SFCA is “working constructively” with the Education Funding Agency (EFA) to help secure the futures of SFCs.

“It is welcome, therefore, that some support is being offered to help colleges explore and consider structural changes as a way of maintaining the excellent work they do for their communities,” said Mr Igoe.

The Sixth Form Commissioner also said, in his letter, that EFA has a small fund available to support SFCs that are “intending to act to prevent intervention and support the longer term financial viability of the college.

“Sixth-form colleges are invited to apply to the EFA for a contribution of up to £10,000 towards… internal cost-cutting reviews/improving financial control, investigation of structural options to increase financial stability, and consideration of future strategic/organisational changes”.

He added that “should the bid cover collaborative activity between more than one sixth-form college, a higher amount may be considered”.

The letter added that “in one college [understood to be Totton CSC, in Southampton] formal intervention was not able to secure either college-led financial recovery or the necessary educational improvement.

“While a future for locally-needed provision has now been secured, this is not an experience we want repeated elsewhere given the resultant costs and the impact on the college’s community”.

FE Week revealed on June 22 that 1,700-learner Totton will “join with “crime prevention charity Nacro from November.

The decision was made after Mr Mucklow warned that Totton could no function alone, having been placed under Financial Notice to Improve by the EFA.

Mr Mucklow praised the overall performance of SFCs, in his letter, for continuing “to be successful and resilient overall”.

“This is good news for young people. Ofsted’s official statistics report the proportion of sixth-form colleges rated as good or outstanding overall stands at 83 per cent. For 2015 to 2016 allocations, total student numbers and funding per student both grew slightly,” he added.

The EFA was unable to comment on contents of the letter before publication.