Public Accounts Committee chair Margaret Hodge has called for government action to boost traineeships after official figures showed take-up among eligible providers failed to pick up on last academic year.

A total of 812 providers could run the programme for 16 to 18-year-olds this year, but 22.7 per cent said no, while 722 could run it for 19-plus but 25.1 per cent said no.

And they numbers could even top 40 per cent with a further 19 per cent of possible 16 to 18 traineeship providers and 11 per cent at 19-plus not revealing their intentions to the funding agencies.

Last year, there were 713 eligible providers at 16 to 18, with 19.1 per cent declining, while for the older age group’s 650 possible providers 29 per cent said no. A further 19.6 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively, did not say.

The latest figures failed to impress Ms Hodge, who five months ago said the Department for Education (DfE) had “failed” to manage providers operating traineeships based on a National Audit Office report that showed just 200 of 459 eligible providers who said they would deliver traineeships had recorded starts as of June last year.

Ms Hodge said: “The Government still has a long way to go to get more employers involved in traineeships.

“The National Audit Office (NAO) report last September showed that only a minority of eligible training providers were actually delivering the traineeships they promised and in 2014/15 up to 40 per cent of providers who could deliver traineeships may choose not to do so. More needs to be done.”

Stewart Segal, chief executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP), said the latest figures showed a review was needed of restrictions limiting delivery of traineeships to mainly grade one and two providers.

“We know there are a number of providers who are not eligible that would like to start delivery and we hope the government will look at this issue as a matter of urgency,” he said.

Teresa Frith, senior skills policy manager at the Association of Colleges, said: “Traineeships are designed for a very specific young person in terms of age and ‘work readiness’ and this is why 70 per cent of colleges have reported to us it is difficult to convince employers to take on a trainee.”

However, last month’s statistical first release showed 5,000 starts on the traineeships programme in the first quarter of this academic year, up from 3,300 in the first six months of 2013/14.

By the end of last academic year — the programme’s first — there had been 10,400 starts.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and DfE said: “We are working with both funding agencies, the Education and Training Foundation and the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education to help providers to expand and improve their traineeships and support those that want to start offering traineeships to learn from the experience of other providers.”

Visit www.traineeship-staff-support.co.uk to register for the ETF and AELP consultancy service for providers interested in or already delivering traineeships.

Main pic: from left Margaret Hodge, Teresa Frith

 

Leaders of the new National College for Onshore Oil and Gas have played down the possibility of a local council vote against a fracking proposal affecting their plans.

Bosses at United Kingdom Onshore Oil and Gas (UKoog), whose National College will be based at Blackpool and the Fylde College, saw a cross-party group of MPs fail in their bid to ban fracking a fortnight ago.

But they now face a wait of almost two months to find whether Lancashire County Council members follow the advice of their planning officer and throw out proposals from shale gas explorer Cuadrilla for new wells in the Fylde.

A Blackpool and the Fylde College spokesperson said it would not be commenting until a decision on the application had been made, but UKoog said the ruling — deferred by councillors on January 28 — would have no impact on plans to develop the National College in the area.

The council planning officer’s report on Cuadrilla’s proposals read: “It has not been satisfactorily demonstrated that noise impacts would be reduced to acceptable levels and would therefore unnecessarily and unacceptably result in harm to the amenity of neighbouring properties by way of noise pollution.”

A Cuadrilla spokesperson said it had developed “mitigation measures” to deal with the noise while a consultation on the new proposals was being carried out.

The local general FE college was designated as the National College “hub” in November, with other colleges, including Portsmouth’s Highbury College operating as “spoke” sites.

The college is expected to provide qualifications from A-level equivalent up to postgraduate degree level, and train teachers and regulators. It will also accredit training and academic courses run by other institutions.

And Corin Taylor, senior adviser at UKoog, said the MPs’ vote against a fracking ban highlighted the need for the National College.

“MPs overwhelmingly rejected proposals for a moratorium on shale gas development, which means that the industry can proceed with the process of finding out how much gas we can recover from the shale deposits beneath our feet,” she said.

“This underlines the need for the National College, headquartered in Blackpool, which will be an exciting development for the UK and Lancashire in particular.”

The ban proposal was rejected by 308 votes to 52, but the government accepted a second amendment to the government’s infrastructure bill by Labour imposing 13 extra controls on when fracking can be carried out.

If the bill is approved by the House of Lords and passes, the restrictions on fracking in the future will include a range of new checks of the structural integrity of gas wells and their potential impact on the surrounding environment.

 

An FE college in Suffolk has been ordered to hand over its 11 to 16 academy to new sponsors after the school was placed in special measures following an inadequate Ofsted rating.

Suffolk New College, which runs the New Academies Trust (NAT), was told by the Department for Education (DfE) to transfer Suffolk New Academy after inspectors gave it grade four results in every area following a visit in early December.

It was the first inspection of the school — the only one in NAT — since it converted to academy status in 2012.

But a consultation on the future of the school is now under way after the DfE stepped in and demanded a new sponsor, naming the Active Learning Trust (ALT) — a local organisation with no links to the FE sector — as a suitable sponsor.

Suffolk New College principal and NAT chief executive Dave Muller said: “I believe it is a positive move for the academy to move over to ALT at this time.

“NAT was established as a sponsor of multiple academies and it was never our intention to have only one. At this time of change for the academy it makes sense for us to look at who is best placed to take them forward. The college will continue to work in partnership with ALT.”

He said the grade three college had been “disappointed” by the Ofsted judgement on the school, but added that it had “confirmed what we had identified following the results last year”.

Poor performance had already prompted a pre-warning notice from Education Secretary Nicky Morgan two months earlier, before school principal Andrew Fell stood down in November after a decade in the post. He was replaced last month by Craig D’Cunha.

The report described student progress as inadequate, especially in maths, and said standards among year 11 pupils were low. It also said that leaders including governors, did not have a “clear and accurate view of the academy’s strengths and weaknesses” and had not taken action to “improve teaching or raise achievement.

It said: “The academy does not communicate effectively with parents. Parents have lost confidence in the academy, particularly in its leadership and management and the quality of the teaching.”

Mr Muller said a “robust action plan as agreed with the regional schools commissioner” was in place and “we have taken a number of actions to ensure that the pupils are receiving an improved educational experience”.

“Having an Ofsted inspection at this time validates the actions already taken and keeps us focussed on moving forward and not letting standards drop back.”

It comes after FE Week revealed last month that three FE colleges had stepped in to take on schools run by E-Act (formerly EduTrust Academies Charitable Trust), which has been hit with two financial notices to improve by the Education Funding Agency since 2013.

E-Act controlled more than 30 schools before the DfE asked it to scale down last year after Ofsted inspectors raised concerns about the performance of a number of the chain’s academies

South Gloucestershire and Stroud College will run Forest Academy in the Forest of Dean from March, while academy trusts associated with Leeds City College and Lincoln College have already taken on E-Act schools.

The Suffolk academy consultation on the new sponsorship arrangements closes on February 12 and, pending the outcome, the transfer will be made on March 1.

Main pic: from left Dave Muller, Nicky Morgan

 

 

Around 50 colleges could be in serious financial difficulty due to a “perfect storm” of capital debt and 16 to 19 funding cuts, it has been claimed.

Lynne Sedgmore (pictured), executive director of the 157 Group, said the figure was “sector rumour” — but just last week FE Week reported how West Cheshire College was looking to shut one of two campuses built with £47.9m from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) with long-term borrowing to top up funding for the builds having left it £14.5m in the red.

The SFA declined to comment on the rumoured figure, but Dr Sedgmore said: “If it were five colleges the responsibility would, in all probability, lie at the door of local management — for 50 colleges to experience serious problems at the same time, however, suggests a systemic problem.”

Part of the problem, she added, was that SFA predecessor body the LSC had “encouraged” colleges to “take on ambitious capital redevelopment programmes”.

“Since colleges have to finance a major part of their capital development themselves many have high borrowings and now face a ‘perfect storm’ as funding rates have been repeatedly cut for 16 to 19-year-olds in recent years and funding numbers slashed for adult provision,” said Dr Sedgmore.

Of the FE Commissioner’s 15 college visits so far, 11 — including West Cheshire College — were triggered by financial concerns from the Skills Funding Agency (SFA). Meanwhile, the Sixth Form College Commissioner has made one visit so far this academic year over finances.

Sixth Form Colleges’ Association (SFCA) chief executive David Igoe said the 50 figure was “probably right” and said he knew of a dozen members experiencing financial difficulties “short of an official Notice To Improve and they are all on the Education Funding Agency’s radar”. “Much of the problem has to be the relentless cuts, which have seen sixth form colleges lose more cash than any other sector — around 20 per cent since 2010,” he said.

But, he added, it was “right to suggest that legacy debt arising from the aborted College Capital programme has also contributed”.

“Small sixth form colleges are particularly vulnerable and are often in areas of high demographic downturn with correspondingly little opportunity to grow,” he said.

An Association of Colleges spokesperson said: “Following significant funding reductions from government, some colleges are inevitably experiencing financial difficulties. This level of funding cuts has to stop. Colleges need more stability in their funding if they are to plan for the future.”

A Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) spokesperson pointed to the emergency loans available to colleges through the exceptional financial support measures, which he said offered “tailored” support for colleges, depending on their level of financial difficulty. But he warned the measures, introduced two months ago, could be followed by intervention from the FE Commissioner.

“There are measures in place to support colleges facing financial difficulties including issues with making repayments on capital redevelopment funding,” he added.

For more on this, see Lynne Sedgmore’s expert piece

Police are hunting fraudsters who tried to rip off an Essex college by pretending be behind work on its £5.8m campus build, FE Week can reveal.

Colchester Institute got a letter purporting to be from the construction outfit behind its new South Wing — but the request for payment via new banking details was checked and found to be bogus.

“It would have been big money,” said Colchester Institute’s financial controller, Tanya Ellingham, who was part of the team that outwitted the fraudsters.

“They obviously target colleges who they see are having building work done and of course you can see who’s doing the building work because it’s on the signs on campus.”

The foiled attempt to misdirect funds bears a striking resemblance to the scam that cost St Aldhelm’s Academy, in Poole, Dorset, £1.2m in July 2013. The school, just like Colchester Institute, had contracted a building firm for work, but was asked for payment via alternative banking details by fraudsters posing as the contractors.

St Aldhelm’s principal at the time Cheryl Heron said it hadn’t affected the running of the school, but the Education Funding Agency’s annual accounts for 2013-14, out last month, revealed the loss had still not been recovered and that “the incident is currently the subject of an on-going police investigation”.

The Colchester incident also comes a month after FE Week revealed how a fraudster, calling himself Brian Hall, posed as a bailiff and targeted finance directors in at least eight colleges, including the College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London and City of Southampton College. It is understood that no college fell for the scam, which centred on Northampton County Court, to which a non-existent debt running into thousands of pounds was meant to be owed.

Michael Johnson, vice principal for finance at City of Southampton College, which was contacted on January 6, said: “He bombarded us with calls suggesting he was getting closer and closer to the college — but he was very pleasant. He tells you he’s giving you a direct number that’s not on the website to help you avoid getting stuck in a queue.”

The incidents were reported to Action Fraud, as was the attempted fraud at Colchester Institute, where the construction outfit confirmed it had not been behind the request for payment.

“We followed our usual checks and procedures — which included ringing the company on the number we have on file, not the number on the letter,” said Ms Ellingham.

She added: “It’s nice when something like this does happen when you catch it — you can see what these processes are for and that they work.”

An Association of Colleges spokesperson said: “Colleges always need to be alert for scams. If colleges suspect an attempted scam or fraud they should report the matter to the police.”

A spokesperson for Action Fraud said the incident was being investigated. She also said last month’s bailiff scam had been passed to Greater Manchester Police, where no one was available for comment.

 

The Further Education Trust for Leadership (Fetl) has handed fellowship grants, worth up to £40,000 each, to four senior figures from the world of FE. Reporter Paul Offord spoke to Tim Ward (pictured) in the third of four FE Week articles to focus on the chosen fellows.

Concern over the declining role of the third sector in training provision inspired Tim Ward’s application for a Fetl fellowship grant.

Mr Ward has been chief executive of The Learning Curve since 1999. The organisation is a charity focused on education and skills for the most disadvantaged and excluded, and Mr Ward has also been chair of the Third Sector Learning Alliance, which supports voluntary, community and social enterprise learning providers, for the last five years.

He said he felt passionately about the role that the third sector plays in delivering learning and skills provision, particularly for the most vulnerable and disengaged.

It is why he plans to use his fellowship to explore the challenges of leadership among third sector providers and how to meet them.

He said: “The position of third sector providers in the publicly-funded learning and skills system has been increasingly under threat. As little as eight years ago, more than 400 third-sector organisations held direct contracts with the Learning and Skills Council. Now there is barely 10 per cent of that number holding [direct] contracts with the Skills Funding Agency and the Education Funding Agency.”

He added third sector organisations involved with FE were at a disadvantage compared to general FE colleges and independent learning providers (ILPs).

“ILPs can generate money through equity investment, while colleges receive capital grants and are able to borrow large sums to improve their provision and help guarantee their survival,” he said.

“It’s much harder for charities to secure loans and taking on contracts in the constantly changing world of training can be a risky business for us.

“We are a small but perfectly formed part of FE, but I do worry about the future of third sector training.

“I hope my research will highlight the good work that it does and perhaps throw up some ideas for how we can be more successful in FE.”

Jill Westerman CBE, chair of Fetl, said: “Tim is a nationally respected leader in third sector learning and skills. His Fetl fellowship will investigate the particular challenges faced by third sector leaders of learning and how they contribute to the complex ‘ecology’ that is FE and skills.”