College staff get on their bikes in memory of colleague

More than £1,000 was raised by a group of cyclists from Weston College in memory of a loved colleague who died during a trip to Italy last year, writes Billy Camden.

The diabetes-related death of grandmother-of-two Heather Wood during a Weston College trip to Italy last year hit her construction colleagues hard.

The 53-year-old resource-based learning coordinator at the college’s construction and engineering centre of excellence (CECE), where she had worked for 15 years, was a “popular” workmate — and one whose unexpected death resulted in a charity bike ride.

Thirty five cyclists — made up of former colleagues, friends and relatives, including husband Dave Wood, who works at CECE as a technician — raised more than £1,000 in aid of Diabetes UK.

They travelled from CECE along Weston Seafront and on to Sand Bay, then back through Worle, Weston-super-Mare.

“It was hard work but very worthwhile. It is a great charity to give to and I’m sure Heather was looking down on us and laughing as she watched us set off,” said Mr Wood.

“It means a lot to me that the people here would do this in her memory.”

On the day of the ride, staff and fellow riders loosened their muscles with a workout at the nearby Virgin Active fitness club. The journey was then officially started by Weston College principal Dr Paul Phillips.

CECE staff are now planning several more fundraising challenges for Diabetes UK, including a ‘Tough Mudder’ obstacle event and the possibility of a longer bike ride later in the year.

Mr Wood said: “This is the start of a number of fundraising events and it’s very touching.

“Heather was very popular at college and people were shocked by the suddenness of her death.

“If people really knew how hugely diabetes affects someone I am sure a lot more would be done to fund research into finding a cure.”

Ben Hodder, carpentry lecturer and one of the event organisers, said: “It was a cold day and quite hard-going, especially the bit from the seafront to Sand Bay, but we battled on and up to now we’ve raised £1,381.20 for Diabetes UK, which is a fantastic amount.

“Heather was an incredible person and highly valued member of our team. Her sudden death was a massive blow to all who work and learn here.

“We’re delighted to have raised so much money for Diabetes UK and on behalf of everyone I’d like to thank all those who donated and made it happen.”

CECE lecturer Matt Postins, who is also the regional chair of the Guild of Bricklayers, said: “I was going to give my old bones a rest this year, but after the tragic events that unfolded on our recent Italy trip I just felt compelled to do my little bit in memory of a truly unique and wonderful lady.

“Heather touched the lives of so many people, be it friends, colleagues and of course students.”

Visit www.justgiving.com/theteamatCECE to donate to the charity effort.

Main Pic: The team of cyclists from Weston College ready for their ride in memory of colleague Heather Wood. Her Husband Dave Woods, is front centre-left.

Edition 124: Sue Rimmer, Mike Hopkins, Sean Harford, Alan Birks, Michele Sutton and Norman Cave

South Thames College principal Sue Rimmer has been elected the new chair of the Principals’ Professional Council (PPC).

She takes over from Mike Hopkins, who stepped down last month after his chief executive role at the Gateshead and Middlesbrough College Confederation was made redundant when it was split up after just over 12 months. He had stepped down as principal of Middlesbrough College to take on the job.

Ms Rimmer, who has been the South Thames principal for nearly 15 years and has more than three decades’ experience in the FE and skills sector, said: “I believe the work PPC does in representing the voice of principals, as well as supporting individual members, is unique and extremely important in these challenging times.”

Nick Lewis, PPC secretary, said: “Sue has been an active member of PPC for several years and I am delighted at her election as chair. She is well-respected throughout the sector and brings a wealth of experience to
the role.”

He added: “PPC has been very fortunate to have benefited from Mike Hopkins’ energy and his experience of FE and we wish him the best for the future.”

And at Ofsted, the remit for plans to merge all education inspections under a single framework from September was passed to schools director Sean Harford last month.

It had previously been the responsibility of Mike Cladingbowl until he left the education watchdog to become executive principal of a new multi-academy trust in North West England.

Meanwhile, former Bradford College principal of ten years and Association of Colleges president of 2013/14 Michele Sutton has become interim principal at Birmingham’s Bournville College.

It follows the retirement of Norman Cave, who left late last year due to ill health after 12 years at the helm.

Ms Sutton, who added a CBE award to her existing OBE in the 2015 New Year Honours, started this month and is expected to remain in post until a permanent successor is recruited later this year.

It marks a return to the Second City for Ms Sutton with one of her first FE and skills sector jobs being a lecturer at Handsworth College (now part of South and City College Birmingham), where she rose to vice principal.

“I’m delighted to be back in Birmingham and honoured that the board have asked me to take up the interim principal role. I look forward to working with staff, students and the wider community over the next few months to consolidate and build on Bournville College’s reputation,” said the former principal of Rochdale’s Hopwood Hall College.

Alan Birks CBE, governors’ board chair, said: “We are very pleased that Michele is joining us and have every confidence in her skills and experience to lead the college forward until the permanent principal is appointed.”

A4e staff ripped off DWP welfare-to-work scheme with false clients and forged paper trails

Four A4e workers forged paperwork to make fraudulent claims against a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) welfare-to-work scheme, a jury has ruled.

Ines Cano-Uribe, aged 38, of Madrid, Spain, Matthew Hannigan-Train, 30, of Bristol, and Hayley Wilson, 27, of Milton Keynes, were yesterday found guilty of conspiring to make false instruments on the Inspire to Aspire contract to cover up fraudulent claims.

Cano-Uribe was also found guilty with Zabar Khalil, 35, of Slough, of a separate count of forgery.

A further six defendants had already pleaded guilty before the 13-week Reading Crown Court trial to 48 counts of forgery and related conspiracy offences.

They were Dean Lloyd, 38, of Milton Keynes — 13 counts of forgery, Julie Grimes, 52, of Laleham, Surrey — nine counts of forgery; Aditi Singh, 31, of Slough — three counts of fraud and forgery, Bindiya Dholiwar, 28, of Slough — seven counts of forgery, Nikki Foster, 31, of Wokingham – eight counts of fraud and one conspiracy, and Charles McDonald, 44, of Egham, Surrey — six counts of fraud and one of conspiracy.

Lisa Rose, specialist fraud prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This scheme involved blatant deception on behalf of the defendants. Instead of helping people back into work, the defendants created false clients and false paper trails for future audits.

“This criminal abuse of their position and responsibility was simply to boost the company’s performance and increase the amount of money it received.

“The defendants claimed A4e had helped find jobs for people who were in fact already employed, people who had never come to A4e for help, and even for some A4e colleagues who had not even used the scheme to join the company.

“For an organisation with such aspirational aims and goals, it is very disappointing that the defendants behaved so dishonestly. Instead of spending time helping those who genuinely needed to find work these defendants were tirelessly covering their tracks, not to mention causing considerable losses to the public purse.”

Between 2008 and 2011, Wilson, Lloyd, Grimes, Singh, Dholiwar, Foster and McDonald worked as A4e recruiters at branches throughout the Thames Valley, together with account manager Cano-Uribe, deputy business manager Hannigan-Train and contract administrator Khalil.

Thames Valley Police said that over this period, the recruiters claimed financial rewards by fraudulently saying they had found work for people, many of whom either did not exist or had not found work. They then forged documentation to support these false claims.

Andrew Dutton, A4e chief executive, said: “A4e co-operated fully with the police enquiry, after our own internal investigation first brought these alleged incidents to light. Since these alleged events took place, we have augmented our controls and processes to seek to ensure that nothing like this could ever happen again.

“Furthermore, rigorous audits undertaken by the Department for Work and Pensions [DWP] and the Skills Funding Agency have concluded that there is no evidence of fraud on any of the contracts that we hold with them.

“A4e has, of course, committed to paying back in full the total value of alleged unsubstantiated claims that were made to the DWP.”

The fraudulent claims were discovered following a whistleblower report that led to a DWP and Thames Valley Police investigation into the ‘Inspire to Aspire’ Lone Parent mentoring programme, which was funded by the European Social Fund (ESF). The programme ended in July 2011.

In some cases, said police, the offenders created files for people who did not exist and included fabricated contact details and details about false training sessions.

In others, claims were made for people who had attended A4e for help, but had not yet found employment. The offenders made claims to say these people had been helped into work by A4e and so rewards were claimed.

Although the money was not received directly by the offenders, many of them were given bonuses for each person they helped into work and met targets set by their managers.

When the DWP audited the contract and asked to see 21 files in March 2011, Cano-Uribe, Hannigan-Train and Wilson were all involved in making the files appear to be in order, including fraudulent ones.

The fraud came to light when documentation completed and purporting to be signed by candidates and employers to show successful job outcomes, was found to have been produced and signed by staff themselves.

DI Gavin Tyrrell, from the Thames Valley Police Economic Crime Unit, said: “This has been a long and highly complex investigation and so we are pleased that it has resulted in a positive outcome here at court.

“Together, these ten people acted dishonestly to abuse a scheme which was designed to help those who had been out of work for long periods and were trying to find jobs in what was a very difficult employment climate. Financial rewards had been introduced in order to help that process and these defendants took advantage of that for their own personal gain.

“The money they fraudulently claimed came from the taxpayer and just over £1.3m was paid to A4e between 2008 and 2010 for their implementation of this contract.

“I want to thank the jury who have deliberated for over 55 hours for their patience in carefully listening to all the facts, in what has been a complicated and difficult case.”

The defendants are due to be sentenced on March 30 at Reading Crown Court.

Sarah Hawkins, 32, of Bagshot, Surrey, Serge Wyett, of Richmond, and Yasmin Ahmed, both 40, of Southend on Sea, faced similar charges, but were cleared of all counts.

A4e gives assurance that fraudsters ‘don’t work for us anymore’

A4e chief executive Andrew Dutton has revealed that none of the staff who ripped off a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) welfare-to-work scheme were still working for him.

Ines Cano-Uribe, aged 38, of Madrid, Matthew Hannigan-Train, 30, of Bristol, and Hayley Wilson, 27, of Milton Keynes, were found guilty of conspiring to make false instruments on the Inspire to Aspire contract to cover up fraudulent claims.

Cano-Uribe was also found guilty, with Zabar Khalil, 35, of Slough, of a separate count of forgery. A further six defendants had already pleaded guilty before the 13-week Reading Crown Court trial, which ended on January 14, to 48 counts of forgery and related conspiracy offences.

Andrew Dutton, A4e Group chief executive, said: “We are obviously very disappointed and sorry a number of people who worked on this contract behaved so dishonestly.” He added: “None of the people who were convicted remain in our organisation.”

Between 2008 and 2011, Wilson, Lloyd, Grimes, Singh, Dholiwar, Foster and McDonald worked as A4e recruiters in the Thames Valley, together with account manager Cano-Uribe, deputy business manager Hannigan-Train and contract administrator Khalil. Thames Valley Police said the recruiters claimed they had found work for people, many of whom either did not exist or had not found work, to fraudulently receive bonuses. They then forged documentation to support false claims. When the DWP asked to see files in March 2011, Cano-Uribe, Hannigan-Train and Wilson were involved in making the files appear to be in order, including fraudulent ones.

It came to light when documentation completed, and purporting to be signed by candidates and employers to show successful job outcomes, was found to have been produced and signed by staff themselves.

Mr Dutton said A4e would pay back all the money that had been fraudulently claimed, adding that DWP and Skills Funding Agency audits found no evidence of fraud in current A4e contracts.

The defendants are due to be sentenced on March 30 at Reading Crown Court.

Sarah Hawkins, 32, of Bagshot, Serge Wyett, of Richmond, and Yasmin Ahmed, both 40, of Southend on Sea, faced similar charges, but were cleared of all counts.

Apprenticeship reform proposals were ‘half-cocked,’ Skills Minister Nick Boles tells MPs

Skills Minister Nick Boles has told the House of Commons Education Select Committee that the government had “gone off half-cock” [sic] on apprenticeship reform.

He appeared in front of the committee as part of its investigation into apprenticeships and traineeships for 16 to 19-year-olds this morning — less than 24 hours after he ruled that more research was needed on proposals to fund apprenticeships via employers and either through the PAYE system or credit accounts.

Facing questions about when the reforms would come to fruition, Mr Boles claimed the initial proposals, drawn by predecessor Matthew Hancock, had not been fully formed.

He said: “You’ll understand if we do more homework. Bluntly, we don’t want to go off half-cock (sic) again, because frankly it’s not been ideal to come forward with two proposals and then decide not to go ahead with either of them. Speed is great but it’s more important to get it right.”

Asked by committee member Pat Glass MP if reforms were “being kicked well into the long grass,” Mr Boles said: “You will be aware that we are running into the buffers somewhat in terms of the election. It is definitely not long grass.

“My personal ambition is to make it as short grass as possible but I make no promises about whether we’ll be able to make the chair’s request of getting a solution announced by May 8.

“I am pushing as hard and fast as I can to come up with a solution, not least because I am confident a solution is there which will actually meet everybody’s concerns.”

For more, see edition 124 of FE Week, dated January 19.

Should former Barnfield boss Sir Peter hand back FE knighthood after inadequate rating?

Troubled Barnfield College has been described by Ofsted as having “no key strengths” — prompting question marks over whether former principal Sir Peter Birkett deserved his 2012 knighthood for services to FE and the academy movement.

Luton South MP Gavin Shuker blamed the college’s problems — the most recent of which was a damning inadequate grading — on the federation of academies which Sir Peter set up from 2007.

“Sir Peter Birkett took an outstanding college, starved it of resources and focussed on building a network of schools that sadly has ended up with an inadequate college and that’s a tragedy,” said Mr Shuker.

He added that the honours system “recognises achievements — but these achievements have been shown to be nowhere near as effective as we originally thought.”

Indeed, Ofsted’s report told how “success rate data are now more reliable than at any time during the past year, following a period in which a number of factors contributed to an over-inflation of the performance of the college.”

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Sir Peter’s knighthood had already proved contentious, with an online petition in April calling for him to rescind the honour winning the support of 183 people.

Although he left the college in July 2013, audits later uncovered a £1m funding overstatement, leading to claims of ghost learners, investigations by the Skills Funding Agency and Education Funding Agency and an FE Commissioner visit.

Sir Peter declined to comment on his knighthood.

Barnfield’s commissioner first after Ofsted blow

Barnfield College is set to become the first college to receive two full visits from FE Commissioner Dr David Collins, following an inadequate Ofsted inspection result.

The Luton-based college went from a grade three to four rating, with inspectors finding the college had “no key strengths” while viewing success rates, teaching and learning as inadequate.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) said the result would trigger a visit from Dr Collins, whose visit in January last year followed a Skills Funding Agency (SFA) assessment of inadequate for financial control at the college.

A BIS spokesperson told FE Week: “The FE Commissioner’s assessment of Barnfield College in January 2014 recommended new financial regulations and controls be put in place urgently and changes were made to the governance and leadership.

“The commissioner has found progress in addressing financial concerns. He is now due to re-assess the college, focusing his attention on quality of provision and the actions put in place to address the issues identified by Ofsted.”

Robin Somerville, chair of Barnfield College, which is due to submit plans to BIS to split from the federation of academies built up under former leader Sir Peter Birkett from 2007, said governors “fully accepted” Ofsted’s findings.

“This is an unacceptable failure by a significant majority of the previous management, governors and teaching staff,” he said. “On behalf of the college, I have apologised to students for that failure.”

It is the latest in a series of blows for the college following government probes with auditor KPMG finding it had overclaimed more than £1m for provision that had never happened, leading to allegations of ghost learners.

Meanwhile, Dr Collins later identified a “general feeling among all levels of the organisation that the college has been relatively neglected in the previous director general/CEO’s [Sir Peter’s] pursuit of attempting to grow the overall federation into a national business”.

And Luton South MP Gavin Shukler said the Ofsted rating could be blamed on Sir Peter’s focus on creating the Barnfield Federation academy chain.

“The criticisms in the report reflect how poor management decisions have affected teaching and staff,” he said.

“We’ve still got brilliant staff there but they need additional resources and they need steady management which we’ve not had in recent years.”

Sir Peter, who left Barnfield in July 2013, said: “It saddens me to read the Ofsted report.”

He added: “I am not sure how this has been allowed to happen and hope senior management have now put strategies in place to rectify the points raised in the report and I wish them well for the future.”

Lydia Richards, University and College Union regional official for Eastern and Home Counties, said: “The poor leadership and financial mismanagement identified last year at Barnfield College has evidently had a negative effect on overall performance, despite continued hard work and commitment from staff.”

Interim principal Monica Box is due to step down in March for Tim Eyton-Jones, currently principal of John Ruskin College, to take over.

Mr Somerville said Ms Box had “already started the urgent and robust work to correct the failings identified by Ofsted.”

And Mr Eyton-Jones said: “We will be implementing a range of robust and established quality improvement models as well as some innovative initiatives to support the turnaround.”

Please note that an earlier version of this poll was reset due to people being allowed to vote more than once. This issue has now been fixed and the poll reset to zero as of 1.30pm on Saturday, January 10.

Vote now: FE Week and Me photography competition 2014

The entries are in, the shortlist is finalised and it’s time for the winner of the FE Week and Me photography competition to be chosen. A judging panel made up of representatives from FE Week and NCFE took on the difficult task of selecting 15 finalists from more than 982 entries this year.

FE Week and Me, a competition organised by FE Week in partnership with NCFE, challenged learners in FE and skills to submit a pictures that depicted student life in the, through the eyes of students.

The winner from the photography student category will be chosen by public vote and will receive a Nikon D5100 Camera Kit and a work shadowing placement with a professional photographer. All that remains for you to do is check out the stunning images below and choose your favourite, then cast your vote in the FE Week and Me photography competition 2014. The voting box can be found at the end of this article.

To download: The Finalists FE Week and Me Photography Supplement click here

1.Emily-Witham — Emily Witham, 16. Photography diploma level three. City College Norwich

2. Haryy-Collins — Harry Collins, 16. BTec level three photography. Fareham College, Hampshire

3. Jessica-Lacey — Jessica Lacey, 18. UAL level three extended diploma art and design – photography. Doncaster College

4. Kloe-Watts — Kloe Watts, 16. UAL art and design photography level three. City College Norwich

5.-Mae-Cobby — Mikaela Mae Cobby, 18. Photography level three extended diploma. Stoke-On-Trent College

6. Michael-Fleming — Michael Fleming, 17. Level two media. Northbrook College, West Sussex

7.-Millie-Wul-Barrett — Milliecent Ruhl-Barrett, 17. UAL level three extended diploma art and design – photography. Norwich City College

Rachael Bartleet, 17. A2 photography. St Brendan’s Sixth Form College, Bristol

9.-Ray-Ann-Collins — Ray-Anna Collins, 17. BTec extended diploma photography level three. Grimsby Institute

10.-Stephanie-Murton — Stephanie Murton, 19. BTec level three extended diploma in photography. Stoke-on-Trent College

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Apprenticeship funding question remains unanswered as government consults further on PAYE and credit account

The future of apprenticeship funding remains unclear despite the government this morning responding to the results of a three-month technical consultation last year.

The government has pledged further “collaborative” consultation after neither of the proposed mechanisms to fund apprenticeships emerged as a clear favourite.

Funding for apprenticeships is currently routed through providers, but in future funding is expected to be routed through employers — either, the consultation proposed, through the PAYE system or an apprenticeship credit account.

Skills Minister Nick Boles, writing in the response document, said: “Based on the feedback to the consultation, we have concluded that further detailed design work is needed before we can reach a final decision on which funding mechanism will be taken forward to meet our shared aim of more high quality apprenticeships, where employers hold the purchasing power. We will continue to undertake this further work with you, in an open and collaborative way.”

The technical consultation, which ran from March 6 and attracted 1,459 responses, followed a 2013 consultation that uncovered wide-spread opposition to employer-routed funding.

Mr Boles added that the decision to give employers direct control of apprenticeship funding was “non-negotiable” — but there was no restatement of the government’s commitment last year that the new funding mechanism would be put in place in 2016.

“If we are going improve and expand our apprenticeship programme further we must put employers in the driving seat — and give them control of both the design and funding of apprenticeships,” he said.

“I look forward to working with employer organisations and others to develop a funding model that is simple, transparent and easy for employers to use.”

However, the government’s pledge to commit £2 for every £1 of employer investment looks less certain with the consultation response revealing it would only be implemented from September on a “trial” basis, continuing the trials already underway.

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) spokesperson declined to comment on the ratio, but said: “We have not yet reached a decision on what the mechanism for routing funding to employers should be.

“As a result of the responses to the consultation we are keeping an open mind and considering all the options including what lessons we can learn from the funding model we are trialling with the trailblazers.”

Nevertheless, news that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) would be consulting further on the reform plans, which follows an apparent thawing on the idea from Mr Boles, were welcomed by the Association for Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) and Association of Colleges (AoC).

Employers made up 995 of the respondents, and AELP chief executive Stewart Segal said the decision to consult further showed “the government has heard the voice of employers”.

“We have been saying for some time that employers want to have the purchasing power in the programme and in fact they already do have that power,” he said.

“Most of the employers our members work with do not want to take on the administration and management of the government contributions and they will want to continue to work with the providers of their choice.”

Teresa-Frith-(2)-lab-supp — Teresa Frith

Mr Segal added AELP was working with BIS and the funding agencies to develop its own, simpler model that would “encourage more employers to become engaged”.

Teresa Frith, AoC senior skills policy manager, said: “We are pleased to see the government standing by its commitment to create a world-class apprenticeship programme and pledging to take its time to get the reforms right.

“It has taken on feedback from the consultation which raised concerns about the practicalities of fulfilling the principle of employer-routed public funding. More work needs to be done before this goes ahead.”

No one from BIS was available to comment on when further consultation would be taking place or how it would be carried out.

College steps in with A4e set to walk away from London prisons

A general FE college has stepped in after a major private provider pulled out early from London’s £17m prison education contract, FE Week can reveal.

Welfare-to-work provider A4e gave three months’ notice to the SFA in August that it was terminating its Offender Learning and Skills Service (Olass) contract for the Capital’s 13 prisons.

It agreed to carry on running the service for another two months after the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) failed to sign up a replacement provider to take on the contract by its original December deadline.

But the SFA has now confirmed that The Manchester College, which already holds the North East, North West, Kent and Sussex, and Yorkshire and Humberside Olass4 contracts, will take over for London prisons from next month.

An SFA spokesperson told FE Week: “Following the recent procurement exercise, we are pleased to confirm that The Manchester College has been successful and will be delivering the Olass contract in London with effect from February 1.

“The Manchester College will continue to work closely with the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), the SFA and the current London Olass provider to ensure a smooth transition for learners and staff.”

Peter Cox (pictured), director of commercial development at The Manchester College, said: “We are excited about the opportunity to expand our services into these additional establishments to raise the aspirations and skills of learners in custody, to help increase employability and reduce reoffending.”

A college spokesperson said it would take on all 600 staff currently employed by A4E on the London contract, through the transfer of undertakings protection of employment (TUPE) process.

Rod Clark, chief executive of the Prisoners Education Trust, said: “We’re delighted the uncertainty surrounding the future of the contract has come to an end for the sake of staff and learners.”

The SFA told FE Week in August that the three providers, other than A4e, to have won Olass4 contracts — the Manchester College, Milton Keynes College and Weston College — had been invited to apply to take over for London.

A4e won London’s Olass4 contract in August 2012 and had been expected to deliver the training until July 2016.

It had won the work with Kensington and Chelsea College having delivered all three of London’s previous prison education contracts since the Olass system was first rolled out across the country in 2006.

An A4E spokesperson said the company would continue to run its Olass4 contract for 14 prisons in the East of England.