With just over a fortnight gone since Grantham and Stamford MP Nick Boles became the new Skills Minister, the sector is still awaiting his first public interview on his brief. As anticipation grows, FE Week reporter Freddie Whittaker delves into his past to see if there might be any clues as to what the sector can expect.

 

Of almost 150 Tory MPs elected for the first time in 2010, few have managed to whip up as much controversy as Nick Boles.

It could be the tempestuous nature of the planning brief he held for almost two years at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG), or the uncompromising way he handled the portfolio itself. Whatever it is, it has done a great job at dividing opinion about the 48-year-old.

Infamous for having once described green fields as “boring” and for championing the government’s ambitious housebuilding targets seen by some as imposed to the detriment of areas of countryside, Boles seems more concerned by getting the job done than by achieving consensus.

Born Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles on November 2, 1965, the new Skills Minister’s education has all the familiar hallmarks of privilege. He studied at Winchester College, then Magdalen College, Oxford, eventually winning a Kennedy Scholarship to Harvard.

He ran a small business and was a Tory councillor representing the affluent areas of Mayfair and Soho. He chaired the housing committee and lived with another bright young Tory activist named Michael Gove. He founded the right-wing Policy Exchange thinktank, and ran it for five years and was elected to the safe seat of Grantham and Stamford in 2010 with a majority of almost 15,000.

“Posh, intolerant Nick Boles is a danger to the Conservative Party,” said Bruce Anderson in The Spectator in November last year, adding that Boles “gives the impression that everything has come easily to him”.

Others, including Association of Teachers and Lecturers deputy general secretary Peter Pendle, are equally cynical. Mr Pendle, a lifelong Labour supporter and former college vice-principal, said he was concerned when  Matthew Hancock was promoted to Business, Enterprise and Energy Minister with Boles taking his place.

Mr Pendle told FE Week: “I was more worried about Hancock leaving, particularly as we had got into a situation where he was beginning to get it — level playing field, 16-19, student-centred funding and such like — so the first thing I did was to go and look at Boles’s CV, and I have to say that that filled me with a degree of concern.

“He went to a private school, went to Magdalen College Oxford, he got a scholarship to Harvard… I just don’t believe he had been anywhere near a  general FE or sixth form college in his life.

“He was a Westminster councillor representing Soho and Mayfair — now I’m not sure if there are a lot of FE students living in Soho and Mayfair — and shared a flat with Michael Gove for four years. So a lot of warning signals.”

The surety with which Boles conducted himself and his approach to the government’s localism agenda while on the long leash of plain-speaking Eric Pickles at DCLG did not earn him friends in the rural lobby, and the “boring” comment did little to alter that.

But he has even been accused of costing his colleagues votes and criticised by members of his own party on more than one occasion.

During a particularly heated meeting in April about a 150-home scheme being fought by campaigners in Gloucestershire, Boles was told in no uncertain terms that his policies posed an electoral threat to Neil Carmichael, the Tory MP for Stroud, who has a majority of 1,299.

One campaigner accused him of creating “a monster where speculators are moving in”.

Boles also made an enemy in Lord True, the Tory peer and leader of Richmond Council, for his “interfering” in planning matters and his policy which makes it easier to convert offices into homes.

Lord True told the Evening Standard last year: “There are many people that believe a period of silence from Mr Boles would be welcome.”

But the experience of those who have dealt directly with him tell a somewhat different story — that of a sympathetic ear and a willingness to compromise that is perhaps under-represented in news stories about high-profile clashes.

The Campaign for National Parks (CNP) was one of 10 charities which wrote to the minister to plead with him to exempt national parks from rules which allow redundant barns to be converted into housing without planning permission.

Ruth Bradshaw, from the CNP, told FE Week: “In the end we were very pleased because we did get an exemption for national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty in the rules.

“We did feel that he did listen to us in the end. Before that we had been worried about some of the proposals which came forward which didn’t take into account our view, and it took quite a lot of lobbying on our part and we felt there could have been a bit more thinking in advance. On a face-to-face basis I found him to be very approachable.”

Whether Boles is seen just as a safe pair of hands to steer the skills portfolio towards the general election next year or a no-nonsense reformer sent to unapologetically hand down more cuts remains to be seen, but one thing is certain — all eyes in FE are on him.

A decision to keep an allegedly positive report about the under-fire Gazelle Colleges Group under-wraps has been questioned by the University and College Union.

Last week, FE Week revealed that the report by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) would remain private, despite Gazelle Colleges Group chair Stella Mbubaegbu (pictured) having alluded to its positive nature in an expert piece.

A UCU spokesperson said: “Considering the questions being asked publicly and the private mutterings about the Gazelle Group, you might expect them to be tripping over themselves to release any sort of report that paints them in a positive light.

“We are still puzzled why colleges have handed over so much money to Gazelle and how they have benefitted from these considerable investments. Gazelle’s corporate speak of ‘student outcome enrichment’ and ‘educational concepts’ makes it sound like the cash has been spent on transparent new clothes for an emperor.”

The existence of a report by the ETF on Gazelle’s leadership development programme came to light in an expert piece written for FE Week, in which Ms Mbubaegbu claimed the report was “supportive”.

The piece was written in response to an FE Week story in which the UCU questioned the amount of public money being spent on Gazelle with member colleges having dished out more than £3.5m to the organisation.

However, both the ETF, which recently awarded the Gazelle Foundation a £1m learning technology contract, and Gazelle refused to hand out the allegedly “supportive” report.

A Gazelle spokesperson said it was a “matter for the ETF,” while an ETF spokesperson said the report was written for “internal purposes,” and she also refused to comment on whether it was indeed supportive.

She said: “The ETF will publish reports from time to time. We also commission research and evaluations for a range of internal purposes, including informing our own procurement and programme design. Internal and external reports are different types of work. This was a report for internal purposes.”

The Gazelle spokesperson said: “The report has been seen by Gazelle. We are happy that it is very positive about the benefits of the programme to participants, as well as highlighting areas for improvement, and hopeful that it will help shape the conclusions of the wider ETF work around leadership in the sector.”

A crackdown on rejected claims for apprenticeship certificates has been launched in a bid reduce the number of rejections from its current rate of almost a third.

The Federation for Industry Sector Skills and Standards (FISSS), the organisation which awards certificates for apprenticeships and verifies that they have been completed, has revealed 104,130 (29 per cent) of the 354,487 certificate claims submitted in 2013 were rejected.

Providers submit claims to FISSS, which took over responsibility from the individual sector skills councils in January 2012, on behalf of their apprentices to certify that the apprentice has completed their framework.

The managing director of FISS, Mark Froud, said the organisation was issuing new guidelines and asking providers what else it could do to help reduce the number of rejected applications.

He also defended the decision to introduce new fees for resubmissions of applications.

Currently, the cost of submitting a claim is £22, a one-off fee that also covers re-submissions, but FISSS has now announced that from December it will be charging a further £22 for each time the application has to be re-submitted after being rejected.

If the current rejection rate of 24 per cent continues, based on the number of claims submitted in 2013, this would mean a bill of at least £1,871,691 for providers.

However, Mr Froud insisted that would not happen.

“I give providers my 100 per cent guarantee that we are doing this in order to save them money not to try and generate money for ourselves,” he said.

“We’re hoping that if they know there’ll be extra charges, people will take more care the first time round.

“At the moment it’s costing providers money — we’ve certified 35,000 apprentices in the last six months, and if you times that by the 20 minutes it take for them to go through and correct the errors they’ve made, and you think of that in terms of staff hours.”

Most rejections he said, were caused by problems with paperwork.

“What happens is the training providers apply for the final apprenticeship certificate, and as part of that the sector skills councils and ourselves then have to make sure that all the right evidence is in place,” he said.

“We also have rules from the Skills Funding Agency around when you can start, when you complete what you can count, what you’re not allowed to count.”

Around 50 per cent of rejections are to do with incomplete applications with missing evidence or poorly scanned PDF documents which couldn’t be read properly while another 15 per cent is caused by missing information on the application form.

“We’ve even had applications where they’ve missed off the candidate’s name,” said Mr Froud.

“It’s a really silly oversight but quite important.”

However, moves to reduce the number of rejections were already having an effect, he said.

“What we’ve been trying to do is sort out training with the training providers to make sure they understand what they’ve got to do.

“But we’re also looking at what we do and asking providers how we can make it easier.

“We simplified the system just after Christmas, and the rejection rate has now dropped to 24 per cent, but I want to get it down further, my target is to get it down to under 10 per cent.

“We’re going to get that rejection rate down because it’s going to save the training providers money and time.”

Providers will be able to use ACE-IT, an online database of example applications and evidence which will train users to spot acceptable applications, from the end of August.

A further 35 per cent of rejections are due to the wrong qualifications being completed for the relevant apprenticeship framework.

“When an apprentice starts the provider doesn’t speak to sector skills council to put them on the right pathway through the qualification,” said Mr Froud.

“And therefore somebody starts on the wrong qualification and when they come to certify they’re told that one of the qualifications doesn’t count and they’ve got to go and do another — which obviously is a pain for the learner.

“All we’d say is that sector skills councils are there it help — just pick up the phone and ring them, it’s free.”

A new appeals process will be introduced for providers who feel claims have been unfairly dismissed, which will be available for free from September 1, and will cost £22 from December 1, although this fee will be refunded if the appeal is successful.

To contribute suggestions to FISSS, find out more about ACE-IT and volunteer as an ACE-IT trial user, visit https://acecerts.co.uk/web/

Updated guidance will also be available on the site from September 1.

Picture: Mark Froud.

New Skills Minister Nick Boles said he hoped one in four young people would study for the government’s flagship tech bacc, despite it only being offered by five colleges.

In his first parliamentary questions session, Nick Boles was asked by Labour MP Lyn Brown what progress had been made on the introduction of the technical baccalaureate.

The tech bacc is a vocational qualification which involves students taking one or more tech levels, a maths qualification and an extended written project.

Mr Boles replied: “I am very hopeful that about 25 per cent of young people will take up the opportunity of a tech bacc.

“The key thing is what is in it — that the qualifications that make it up are themselves demanding.”

This percentage, a Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson told FE Week, “equates to 320,000 16-19 year olds”.

“This is the proportion  of young people aged 16 to19 in full time education in 2012, who took vocational qualifications at level three, exclusively or with A levels, having  passed GCSE maths at C or above at key stage four.”

However, just five colleges and two schools have signed up to offer qualifications which will be included in the scope of the tech bacc from September.

The DfE spokesperson said: “The 25 per cent is an ambition, rather than a target, so there’s no set end date.

“All colleges will be able to offer the tech baccs — we expect it to grow over time.”

Of the 339 colleges in England, the five colleges currently signed up as tech bacc “Trailblazers” include Barnet and Southgate College, which will offer tech baccs in engineering, motor sports vehicle technology, IT, construction and health and social care and Blackpool Sixth Form College, offering engineering, IT and creative media production tech baccs.

Students at Brockenhurst College and Warwickshire College will be able to take engineering tech baccs, while South Cheshire College will offer them in IT as well as engineering.

Two of the colleges with the highest income in the 12012/13 academic year, FE Week understands, NCG (formerly Newcastle College Group) and Leeds City College are involved with tech back pilot schemes which will not be launched until 2015/16.

However, Yultan Mellor, vice principal for curriculum at Central College Nottingham, another college in the top ten with the highest income, warned there may not be a huge appetite among many colleges.

“There hasn’t really been any discussion about tech baccs in my professional circles — they’ve kind of slipped in under the radar,” she said.

“There’s been so many changes to the system over the last few years – I think there’s some kind of inertia in the sector because of all the constant changes it almost feels like something new this year might be gone by next year.”

This she said was partly why Central College has not introduced the tech bacc.

“I think we’d probably want to see a level of success and understanding in the marketplace before we jumped in,” she said.

“Particularly the extended project — that was also part of the diploma which we did offer, but it wasn’t hugely successful.

“I think it’s difficult with a student that’s signed up for a course in engineering for example, to put them on a long qualification that they didn’t sign up to.”

She added: “We don’t have a problem with the tech bacc and it’s something we might consider at the future but to be honest, we’re happy that our current suite of qualifications offer young people progression, into jobs, into higher apprenticeships, into university.”

Deborah Ribchester, curriculum senior policy manager at the Association of Colleges, welcomed Mr Boles’s comments.

She said: “We are pleased government is supporting a high-quality technical education route and we would like to see tech baccs available across all occupational sectors.

“It’s difficult to speculate on numbers likely to take up this package of qualifications but there are currently five colleges selected as trailblazers and we look forward to working with them as the trial progresses.”

 

A new sector leadership thinktank has appointed former National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace) policy director Mark Ravenhall as its chief executive.

The Further Education Trust for Leadership (FETL) announced the appointment this morning (July 25).

The thinktank has also launched a basic website where people from across the sector can sign-up to its mailing list.

Mr Ravenhall said: “I’m excited to be joining FETL at this critical time for FE.

“I’m looking forward to meeting leaders and stakeholder organisations across the whole sector as soon as possible and launching our first round of grants and fellowships in September.

“Inspirational leadership is critical to the success of learners in FE and training in the UK.  I feel employers, learning providers and individuals will all benefit from the work of the trust.”

Mr Ravenhall was director of policy and impact at Niace from 2001-2013.

He has since worked as a freelance with Niace and other organisations on projects including the European Commission’s Agenda for Adult Learning.

The thinktank has a budget of up to £5.5m from funds remaining from the Learning and Skills Improvement Service (LSIS), which ceased to exist last July.

Former LSIS chair Dame Ruth Silver, who is founding president of FETL, said: “I am delighted that FETL has appointed Mark.

“What we do today must inform and improve the sector’s future and Mark will play a key role in leading this important work.”

Anyone interested in carrying out research for FETL on leadership theory and practice in the sector will be able to apply for grants, fellowships and bursaries from September.

She said: “We will publish the invitation on our website which we launched a couple of weeks ago.

“It is about the leadership of thinking and thinking of leadership. The idea is the grants will allow people to take time [off from work if necessary] to carry out the research.

“The website is only very basic at the moment, but it will gradually develop in the months ahead as FETL evolves.”

Visit www.fetl.org.uk to see FETL’s website.

Photo caption: The Further Education Trust for Leadership chief executive Mark Ravenhall

An education committee inquiry into vocational qualifications will look at the reduction of apprenticeships starts among 16 to 19-year-olds, its chair has announced.

Conservative MP Graham Stuart (pictured) has confirmed that the inquiry will try to pinpoint the reasons behind the decline in overall apprenticeships starts in the age groups.

The inquiry, which was announced last week, comes after FE Week revealed in October 2012 that the number of 16 to 18-year-olds who started apprenticeships in the final quarter of 2011/12 dropped 5,200 from the previous year to 22,000.

It also comes despite the first year-on-year rise in apprenticeship starts in the age group since 2010/11 was reported in quarter three of this academic year.

Mr Stuart said: “18 months on from the BIS select committee report and a few years on from the Richard Report we feel the time is right to look at apprenticeships for 16 to 19-year-olds.

“While there has been a welcome increase in apprenticeships under this government  and of longer apprenticeships for young people, there has been a reduction overall in 16-19 year olds entering apprenticeships and we want to understand why this is and what should be done about it.”

The committee has called for written evidence for its inquiry to be in by noon on Tuesday, September 30, although no date has been set for hearings.

The nine areas for which evidence has been invited [see below for full list] cover the effectiveness of apprenticeships and traineeships for 16 to 19-year-olds, including whether they meet employers’ needs and provide a “solid foundation” for employment.

It will also look at the range of courses available, employer engagement levels, the impact of recent changes to funding and whether government investment represents good value for money.

Further, the cross-party committee’s 11 member MPs will look at ways the government might encourage more businesses to offer apprenticeships and the factors which prevent more young people considering apprenticeships.

They will also ask whether young people are adequately prepared for apprenticeships and how the government could encourage more people to take on apprenticeships and traineeships.

The inquiry has been welcomed by the Association of Colleges, and Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Stewart Segal.

Mr Segal told FE Week: “The terms of reference for the inquiry suggest that the committee has identified some key issues for addressing by policymakers as we approach the general election.

“The Prime Minister has said that he wants school leavers during the next Parliament to have the choice of going to university or starting an apprenticeship and therefore it’s important that we engage more employers to offer more high quality apprenticeship opportunities for young people.

“We hope that the committee reviews the evidence from employers to ensure that the apprenticeship reforms are based on what businesses are saying.  AELP also looks forward to sharing with the MPs our views on how the traineeship programme can be made more flexible so that more places with credible work experience opportunities are on offer.”

Barnfield College is to split from its associated academies in a move that will spell the end of the Barnfield Federation.

The split proposal, expected to take effect from November, will go before Skills Minister Nick Boles and leaves a question mark over the future of federation interim chief executive Dame Jackie Fisher (pictured above, top left).

It was announced by the Bedfordshire-based federation, which formed in 2007, today and will result in the college and Barnfield Academy Trust separating into two “wholly independent organisations”.

Dame Jackie, who replaced previous federation leaders Helen Mayhew and Stephen Hall in February, is to continue in her role until the split, at which point the two organisations are expected to appoint their own chief executives.

It comes after the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) and Education Funding Agency (EFA) both published critical findings of their investigations into the federation in February — less than a year after the resignation of federation founder, former director general and ex-college principal Sir Peter Birkett (pictured right).

FE Commissioner David Collins had also also visited and later called for at least half the governors to be replaced and for “significant changes” to the federation’s leadership, following his inspection in January.

The federation spokesperson said: “The board of Barnfield College and the board of Barnfield Academy Trust have jointly taken the decision to legally separate and create two wholly independent organisations.

“This decision was not taken lightly but only after several months of deliberation. We believe it is in the best interest of both Barnfield College and the Barnfield Academy Trust.

“We are grateful for the support of our funding agencies over the past six months. However, they have played no part in this decision. We await a response from the government minister.

“We are grateful for the hard work and exemplary commitment of our staff who can now put the past behind them and look forward to the future. The Barnfield academies will now operate as a standalone multi-academy trust and shape their own future.

“Barnfield College can focus on its core business of further and higher education and put all its energy into developing the College to serve the people of Luton and surrounding areas.”

A government spokesperson told FE Week: “We are waiting on further proposals [on the separation plans] from Barnfield and will consider these in due course.”

The SFA report had explained how funding claims were slashed by nearly £1m after the probe, by auditors KPMG, got under way. Among the problems was guided learning hours failing to match attendance registers “leading to an overstatement of funding”.

The EFA investigation looked at many of the same issues covered by the SFA. The SFA report, which came out as Hertfordshire Police decided it would not carry out a criminal investigation, went on to outline how Sir Peter was allowed to leave last year with an Audi A5 company car because governors thought he would, in fact, be getting a far less expensive, and older, Jaguar. He also got two, unspecified, lump sum payments and an additional month’s holiday pay.

None of the perks had been in his contract, although the report said he had only asked for a “few extra days holiday in excess of his contractual entitlement”.

Nevertheless, the split will see Barnfield South and Barnfield West Academies and Sixth Forms, Barnfield Vale Academy, Barnfield Skills Academy, and Barnfield Moorlands Free School continue under the Barnfield Academy Trust banner. It is expected that Moorlands Free School and Barnfield Studio School will join the trust this autumn.

“The absolute priority of both boards is to ensure that the learners in our care continue to receive an excellent education,” said the federation spokesperson, adding: “Barnfield College and the academies are planning to continue to work together to share expertise and build on the achievements of the last few years.

“We expect the separation to take effect from early November this year. Students and their families will notice little difference as the legal changes will affect only governance and top level management arrangements.”