Police investigate suspected chemical attack at College of West Anglia

Police are investigating a suspected chemical attack at a college in Norfolk that left 30 learners needing medical attention.

One block of the College of West Anglia was evacuated and one student was hospitalised as a precaution after people at the King’s Lynn campus began experiencing breathing difficulties on Friday (November 7) morning.

A nearby road was sealed off for more than two hours while emergency services scoured the scene. The building was fully open this week, with teaching taking place as normal.

A college spokesperson said: “The police and fire service have confirmed their belief that the cause of Friday’s incident was the introduction of a substance to the third floor area by a person or persons as yet unknown.

“Discussions with the emergency services suggest that this is likely to have been a CS type substance, mace or pepper spray but this has not been confirmed.

“It is being treated as a criminal act and the college will be working closely with the police to identify the culprits.”

Grant Cotterell, station manager at Norfolk fire service, said: “We got a call around 11am about a suspected gas leak. When we got to the scene, the students had been evacuated and were on the grass area in front of the college.

“Incidents like these have the potential to be very serious. The kids were coughing and some had watery eyes.

“We are unsure as yet what the cause was. We’re handing the investigation over to the police and the college.”

A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) said: “The trust dispatched two response cars, an ambulance, an ambulance officer, our hazardous area response team (HART) and our air ambulance colleagues at Magpas.

“One patient has been taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital by land ambulance for further assessment and care, but is not thought to be in a life-threatening condition. At this stage it’s not anticipated that any other patients will need further treatment at hospital.”

The incident came just days after police in the North East arrested Liam Lyburd at his home on suspicion he had made a pipe bomb that he was preparing to detonate at Newcastle College.

The 18-year-old is due to appear at Newcastle Crown Court on November 20 charged with possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, possessing ammunition with intent to endanger life, and five counts of possessing an explosive substance, namely a pipe bomb, with intent to endanger life.

For more on the College of West Anglia incident, including comment from the principal, see edition 118 of FE Week, dated Monday, November 17.

HMRC tax apprentices — no ICT skills necessary

Computer skills are “not relevant” for tax apprentices enrolling on a new framework at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), FE Week can reveal.

Learners on the HMRC’s level three programme do not have to learn ICT skills as part of the “transferable skills” section of the programme.

In contrast, a level two business administration apprenticeship run by Skills CFA requires ICT training.

A spokesperson for HMRC said it had an “entire division of highly skilled IT staff” with “separate development programmes”.

He added: “HMRC requires a vast array of skills to ensure the tax system continues to evolve and operate to meet the needs of our customers.

“While ICT is an essential and greatly valued skill for all roles at HMRC, the tax apprenticeship is specifically tailored to policy work where certain skills are essential to do the job.”

But the lack of transferable ICT skills in the framework has been criticised by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (Niace), with chief executive David Hughes warning apprentices might not be getting the most out of the course.

He said: “It is inconceivable that any apprenticeship should not have a good dose of IT skills as part of the programme. An apprenticeship shouldn’t be just about the current job, but should equip each apprentice with the skills they need to guarantee they have a sustainable and fulfilling career.

“To achieve that, we know that digital skills are as essential now as good English and maths. As technology progresses this will only increase. By next year it is estimated that 90 per cent of jobs in the EU will need at least basic computer skills. However around half of adults don’t have them and almost two-thirds of employers (62 per cent) have concerns about the level of IT skills in their workforce.

“So I am surprised that the apprenticeship in ‘tax’ does not recognise this and am concerned that the apprentices are not getting the full and expansive experience in their training to equip them for a career which might span several jobs, different sectors and un-knowable technological change.”

The tax framework was submitted to the Skills Funding Agency by HMRC two days before the August 31 cut-off for schemes not run through the Trailblazer programme.

The HMRC argued the new framework provided “a structured approach to training and developing prospective tax specialists who understand the needs of the organisation,” and was developed “to create a new vocational pathway in tax to attract, develop and retain talent for the future and to professionalise the roles for HMRC”.

The department claims the framework was relevant for tax caseworkers, support risk-based quality compliance checks into businesses, employers and individuals, and for tax/policy specialists, who draft guidance for HMRC and external customers of the department.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: “ICT qualifications may be included in an apprenticeship framework or standard, where the developer believes they are necessary for the job. Qualifications in ICT are not a mandatory part of all apprenticeships.”

 

‘Reward college specialisms’ says CBI

Colleges should be rewarded for specialisation, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has said.

In its report A better off Britain: improving lives and making growth work for everyone, published today, the employer body also called for more learners to complete level four apprenticeships and vocational qualifications.

John Cridland (pictured), director general of the CBI said: “We need to refocus the system and refocus the recognition and reward in the system, so that the colleges who are boldest in making sure they’re provision is specialised and is fit for purpose are the ones who are rewarded.

“I see lots of entrepreneurial FE colleges with inspirational principals focusing on unique things they’re good at.

“We’ve got to get a lot cuter in making sure we are delivering those skills in quite a specialised way and rewarding colleges on the basis of outcome.”

He added in the future he wanted to see a skills landscape where “every college becomes different rather than every college being homogenous” which “reflects the reality of the modern business community”.

The report argued that the UK’s economy had evolved, becoming a higher skilled economy, although this did not mean that “middle-skilled, middle-income jobs” were disappearing.

“They are just slightly higher-skilled than they might have been in the past, lengthening the path to these jobs for people entering the labour market at low skill levels,” the report said.

It added: “By 2022, half of all jobs will require workers to have completed some form of higher education”.

The solution, the report said, was to encourage more learners to complete qualifications at level four – such as higher national diplomas, higher apprenticeships, or foundation degrees.

Mr Cridland said: “Twenty years ago, somebody wanting to get out of a minimum wage job perhaps needed to get to level three.

“Certainly the reality of the upskilling of our labour market is they’re now going to need to get to level four to do jobs that their parents or grandparents would have considered craft or technical.”

The report also called for employers to take great ownership of the skills system, and for colleges to develop stronger relationships with local business.

Mr Cridland expressed support for the apprenticeship reforms, which will see funding for apprenticeships routed through employers rather than providers, and said that in order to encourage small employers to get involved “the answer is to make it more like a market”.

“If you empower small firms with the wherewithal to buy provision back I think colleges are in a great position to get that business,” he said.

“If the funding goes the other way with the small company at the end, by the time it gets to them, frankly they’ve lost the will to live never mind train anybody. I would turn the system round.”

MPs hear young apprenticeship programme comeback call

Apprenticeships for 14 to 16-year-olds should make a comeback, sector experts have told MPs.

All eight witnesses appearing before the House of Commons Education Select Committee hearing last week agreed a return for the programme could help prepare young people for the workplace and further training before turning 16.

The young apprenticeship, which consisted of two days a week in the workplace, alongside maths, English and other subjects, was scrapped in 2010 due to fears over cost.

David Massey, senior manager, UK Commission for Employment and Skills said that around a third of employers who take on a 16-year-old apprentice report that the youngsters were poorly prepared.

“And when you ask them why they invariably say lack of work experience,” he told the committee, which is investigating traineeships and apprenticeships.

He agreed that the 14 to 16 apprenticeship could help to combat this.

Alison Fuller, professor of vocational education and work at the Institute of Education, told the committee she and the other witnesses were “disappointed” when the programme was phased out and there hadn’t been a ” strong evidence base” for the decision.

“The strong feature of them was that it wasn’t a case of closing down options for those who were on the programme because they had to do seven GCSEs as well, so it was an enhanced programme,” she said.

“And the evidence is that the graduates were going in all sorts of directions — A-levels, vocational education, apprenticeships.”

Committee member Dominic Raab — who last year put a bill to revive the programme before parliament, but it failed to pass by the end of the session and so was dropped — agreed.

“When you look at all the evidence, young apprenticeships were phenomenal to have at least as an option,” he said.

Learner numbers on the programme were restricted by the previous government and the programme, started in 2004, was cancelled under the Coalition over concerns that it cost £3,000 per learner more than if they had been in school.

However, David Harbourne, Edge Foundation director of policy and research, said expanding the scope of the programme could have made it better value for money.

“The previous government capped the numbers to 9,000 per cohort, that meant that if you had a school in which you had
four young apprentices, there were no offsetting savings to the school whatsoever,” he said.

“If you could get numbers up to around 30,000 you would start to see economies of scale that we never saw when the numbers were capped.”

The next evidence session is due to take place on November 26. Witnesses are yet to be announced.

 

Agency review puts 1,600 quals in the funding firing line

Public funding for nearly 700 adult qualifications is to be axed while a further 972 are also at risk following a Skills Funding Agency review, it has been announced.

The agency released lists of qualifications with no or low demand — of fewer than 100 funded enrolments a-year — since August 2012, which it said it would no longer fund from 2015.

Of the 691 qualifications to be scrapped with no demand, 33 were level one, 243 were level two, 289 were level three, 90 were level four while 29 entry level qualifications were also listed to go.

Awarding organisations (AOs) who want to save their qualifications among the 972 with low demand have until December 4 to make their case to the agency.

Federation of Awarding Bodies chief executive Stephen Wright (pictured front page) told FE Week: “I’m happy with the list, as long as the agency responds reasonably to reasonable requests — we’ll be keeping an eye on it.”

He said there were many reasons why an awarding body might want to save a qualification, for example an expected increase in uptake, a course in a sector with skills shortages or a strong uptake for non-funded learners.

The agency was tasked with reducing the number of adult vocational qualifications it funded following the Nigel Whitehead report, published in November last year, which called for 95 per cent of the 19,000-plus adult qualifications to be axed. Meanwhile, last year’s annual review resulted in funding for 1,601 qualifications being cut.

City & Guilds has 88 qualifications set to be cut in this year’s review and a further 223 at risk due to low demand.

Director of product Chris Kirk said: “Low take-up can be the result of small markets, not lack of interest. We have no interest in spending time and effort developing something no one wants.”

He added the organisation would continue to offer non-funded qualifications if demand existed.

A spokesperson for WJEC, which has 14 no demand qualifications on the list and 17 with low demand, said it was “in discussion” with centres over whether to appeal.

A spokesperson for Pearson, with 85 no demand and 158 low demand, said it would also be working with providers on possible appeals.

The agency said providers should speak to AOs about efforts to retain qualifications, who would then make the case for retention.

 

College follows commissioner’s first merger advice

The first of three colleges that FE Commissioner Dr David Collins suggested would struggle to maintain their long-term independence has agreed to a merger.

Dr Collins concluded that Devon-based Bicton College, which was visited by the commissioner in March, needed to merge or form a federation with another institution following Skills Funding Agency concern about its “financial health”.

Dr Collins concluded that long-term financial issues meant the college would not have been able to survive as an independent institution without “damaging its long term development”.

A spokesperson for the 2,000-learner specialist land-based college said on Monday (November 3) that it expected to complete a “formal merger” with The Cornwall College Group (TCCG) by August — but it was “too early” to say whether this would lead to job losses.

It comes after Dr Collins told Norton Radstock College, in a report published last month following his visit in June, that it could no longer operate on its own because of issues with leadership, governance and finances.

Dr Collins also questioned “the long term viability” of Stratford-upon-Avon College as an independent institution following a visit in May.

Hope for a continued independent Stratford was restored after Dr Collins gave positive feedback after a follow-up visit, but Bicton’s merger has already been embraced by governors’ chair Jeremy Yabsley.

“After listening to all of the potential partners’ proposals, I have formed a very favourable opinion of the TCCG governors and leadership,” he said.

“Under the terms that TCCG propose, Bicton can be sure of retaining its identity — this is vitally important to our students and the staff at the college.

“We look forward to working together on a joint vision for the development of signature centres of excellence in land-based subjects.”

A Bicton spokesperson said it was “too early to say whether there will be any impact on jobs as a result of the merger. Both colleges have a strong history of consulting with employees [over possible job losses]”.

There were no plans to change the courses currently offered at the college, she added.

TCCG, which was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted in 2010 and has around 35,000 learners, already runs land-based Duchy College which has branches in Stoke Climsland and Rosewarne, Cornwall.

It also has campuses in Newquay, Saltash, St Austell, Camborne, and Falmouth, all in Cornwall.

Philip Rees, chair of the TCCG board of governors, said: “We are hugely excited to be playing a major role in the future development of Bicton College.

“This merger will extend choice and access to land-based training, skills and research for more learners and employers across the region, with Bicton College and Duchy College working very closely together to enhance their reputations for land-based specialisms.”

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesperson said: “We fully support the decision for Bicton College to partner with TCCG.

“This partnership will work to secure the future of the college and land-based education in Devon and the wider South-West.”

Main Pic: Bicton College board chairman Jeremy Yabsley & Philip Rees Chair of TCCG Board

 

Strode scores outstanding clean sweep

A Somerset college has scored a clean sweep of outstanding headline ratings in a glowing Ofsted report.

Strode College, in Street, became the first college this academic year to achieve a grade one result — and the ninth since the new Common Inspection Framework was introduced in September 2012.

It got grade ones in each of the headline fields and a further 16 outstanding ratings out of 20, with the remaining grades all ‘good’. It won praise from the education watchdog for its English and maths provision, wide range of courses and governors’ “clear and ambitious vision”.

The report, published at the end of last month, bumped Strode College up from grade two. Principal James Staniforth said: “Our teachers and support staff are among the most talented, experienced and dedicated that I have ever known.”

He added he was “particularly delighted” with the outstanding judgement for teaching and learning.

 

Local authorities losing Neets track say MPs

Participation in education, employment and training among 16, 17 and 18-year-olds will not improve unless the government tackles problems with young people slipping through the net, a senior MP has warned.

During a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee’s inquiry into 16 to 18 participation, chair Margaret Hodge (pictured) warned Department for Education (DfE) Permanent Secretary Chris Wormald that the government had to deal with the issue of young people classified as “unknown”.

MPs grilled Mr Wormald over a National Audit Office (NAO) report entitled 16 to 18-year old participation in education and training, which showed a big disparity between local authority areas in the percentage of young people for whom the government had no information about their status.

Ms Hodge said: “If you’re going to get on top of Neets you’ve got to know. If you don’t even know where they are you’re never going to be able to find anything.”

Mr Wormald was given examples of the disparity. For example, in the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham and Hackney, the figure was 19.8 per cent, but in nearby Thurrock, it was 0.3 per cent.

Daventry MP Chris Heaton-Harris said: “I was quite surprised to see the massive variation in those figures by local authority area, and I was just wondering if you can explain that for me.

“Is there any reason to suppose that the information is being captured inaccurately by the local authorities concerned? It is surprising that you have similar authorities in adjacent geographical locations with such dissimilar figures.”

Mr Wormald replied: “It’s possible, but I’m not going to comment on individual authorities without having discussed it with them.

“The figures you are giving me are intrinsically surprising, and I don’t off the top of my head see an obvious explanation. I’m quite happy to look at those cases and come back to you.”

Speaking about careers advice, Mr Wormald promised action from Education Secretary Nicky Morgan, but he was warned by Ms Hodge about contradicting evidence, after he claimed that “the vast majority of schools want to do well for their pupils”.

Ms Hodge said that Ofsted’s annual report showed that “one-in-four young people would have made a different choice if they had known about the options they had before them”, adding: “You’ve got a problem here”.

She said: “If you honestly say to us ‘we can’t do more because we haven’t got the money and we’ve decided to cut this’ I could buy that because I know the difficulty of getting a decent careers service going. But to pretend that schools do it well when the bulk of the evidence is against you is a bit difficult.”

The committee also discussed apprenticeship reforms and funding cuts, particularly for 18-year-old learners.

A spokesperson for the Association of Colleges (AoC) said: “AoC has always supported raising the participation age to 18, but we need to ensure the funding, careers advice and transport is in place so all students can access excellent education.

“It was good to see the MPs on the committee seeking to hold government to account and raise the variable performance of local councils in knowing whether 16 and 17-year-olds are actually in education or training.”

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: “When so many young people are still out of work, the government needs to do much more to ensure that students everywhere, whether in school or college, have access to high quality, independent, face-to-face careers information, advice and guidance.”

Mr Wormald is due to appear in front of the committee again on November 17.

 

Sixth form college bosses’ £500 ‘incentive’ raises ethics query

Concerns about the “ethical use of funding” have been raised after a sixth form college started advertising £500 incentives in a bid to lure high-achieving learners to its proposed new free school sixth form.

New College Pontefract applied to the Department for Education (DfE) last month to set up New College Doncaster, which would open in 2016 for up to 1,200 learners.

The website for the new sixth form advertises an ‘academic scholarship’ in which: “If you are predicted to achieve more than five A grades in your GCSEs, we will offer you the opportunity to receive £500 and a place in our Excellence Academy to support your post-16 education.”

Stephe-Gorard

But professor of education and public policy at Durham University Stephen Gorard (pictured top) said the use of public money to incentivise enrolments was a cause for concern.

He said: “I have never heard of this before and I can’t see that it would be an ethical use of funding, given that it would cost money from the public purse that could have been spent on something else.”

However, Richard Fletcher (pictured bottom), vice principal at New College Pontefract, defended the offer in an interview with FE Week sister publication Academies Week.

“The £500 is something quite new to the college. This is something that we are looking at doing,” he said.

“It’s an incentive — it might not be £500, and we might look at a laptop, an iPad, something to support them with their studies. It will be a choice of what the student wants, we’ve got the idea from some other colleges which is something schools and colleges seem to be doing at the moment. It is about raising aspirations I would say, an incentive to attract the best students from the area to sign up to our college.

Richard-fletcher

“Until we got to the stage of opening and we had the students applying and enrolling we wouldn’t know how many students would receive this. There is no guarantee they would receive it until they had got their results, once they had their results then we would be committed to keeping to what we said. It wouldn’t be offered on predicted grades it would be offered on actual grades so when they come to enrol after their GCSE results.

“It is a little bit like a private school saying to someone who is good at rugby, come to our school and we’ll pay for your fees. It’s a scholarship for the brighter students.”

The DfE is due to confirm next month whether the college, rated outstanding by Ofsted, has reached the next stage in the free school application process.